


The Walk of the Broken

by Pelandreth



Series: The Wanderer [1]
Category: Kenshi (Video Game)
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-04-09
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2020-01-07 14:09:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 12
Words: 60,822
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18412220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Pelandreth/pseuds/Pelandreth
Summary: Fate brought a doctor, a disgraced warrior and two ex-slaves together. Now, in a hostile world trying to tear them apart, the only people they can trust are each other. And even then, nobody’s goals are quite the same.





	1. Slaves

It began as many a wanderer’s life had ended; with chains.

The first thing Kat felt upon waking was the uncomfortable jolting of the manhunter’s shoulder, and the dull ache of the bumps and bruises that twinged every time her captor’s boots hit the sand. Harsh desert light forced its way between her unwilling eyelids, and as she peered at the ground through hazy vision, she could see the sand swaying and blurring. At one moment it would feel almost close enough to touch, but the next it would be as distant as the moons in the sky. Her eyes rolled back for a fraction of a second, and the searing brightness that had been in her retinas was punctuated with brief spells of darkness. She drew in a shuddering breath, forcing air into her lungs, which felt squeezed. The manhunter paused, feeling her stir on his shoulder, and unceremoniously dumped her onto the ground.

The hot sand burnt the palms of Kat’s hands, but the pain barely registered through the fog in her head. A hard metal boot slammed into her ribs, demanding that she stand, but it wasn’t until a hand grabbed hers and pulled her up that she realised she was even capable of standing. A muffled voice snapped, “You. Keep her walking.”

Another hand took hold of Kat’s wrist, draping her arm across a pair of broad shoulders. She stumbled forward, her legs barely capable of supporting her and the nausea rising with each sinking step she took. Slowly, however, the worst of the fog began to clear. She felt her heart contract like a fist, even before the thoughts and memories began to resurface.

Longstoat was dead.

Guilt and grief washed over her like a tidal wave, overcoming her for a second, but there was no slowing down, for the slave caravan had a pace to keep. Kat shivered in the hot sun, fitfully remembering her companion bleeding out from a half dozen wounds that had burst blood vessels and cut him to the bone. He had told her to run, and run she had.

She had run blindly in the darkness, tripping, stumbling, spraining her ankle as she fell down a sand dune. And then she had limped straight into a group of people in the dark, who she knew now were manhunters – self-hired men who took it upon themselves to hunt escaped slaves for profit. _I am not a slave_.

But she was now.

It was part of the manhunters’ racket, assaulting and kidnapping vulnerable travellers. They knew they could get away with stealing a lone woman, dressed in rags and carrying nothing but a cheap, rusted iron club for defence. No-one ever asked questions, and she was insignificant enough that no-one would attempt to save her.

The shoulders Kat had been leaning on were shaking. Kat could feel the iron of a collar against her upper arm, and didn’t need to look to know she was being supported by a fellow slave. Her head lolled out of her control for a second, her own heavy, chafing collar upsetting its balance, and she bashed heads with someone with a significantly harder skull than hers.

“Sorry.” Her tongue felt too big for her mouth, dry and swollen as it was. Her jaw muscles ached. As she spoke her tongue caught against something sharp and jagged off to the side of her mouth, and Kat realised that one of the manhunter’s spiked clubs had broken a tooth. Now she thought about it, she could feel dry, crusted blood on the outside of her mouth.

“Get a move on, or I’ll feed you both to the skimmers!” A spiked club rapped Kat’s back, directly over her spine. It was not enough to seriously wound her, but the impact stung. The slave who was helping Kat along hooked an arm around her waist. Exhausted from the pain and heat and desperation, Kat struggled on, the gritty sand sloughing the tough skin off the soles of her feet.

There was no stopping; the manhunters evidently wanted to herd their chattel along as quickly as possible. Only once was there any kind of respite. One of their captors moved around the group, passing the teat of a waterskin between each slave’s parched lips. No-one was afforded more than a few precious gulps of water, and by the time it got to Kat, the bottle was almost empty. She gasped, her head tilting back. Warm salty sweat ran into her eyes, but she was barely able to think past the droplets of water on her tongue. She wished she still had her own waterskin, but that had been stolen from her along with everything else. She was pretty sure it was the one the guards were passing back and forth between themselves with little regard for conserving the water inside. It meant, thought Kat, that they couldn’t be that far from civilisation. Her heart gave another squeeze inside her bruised ribcage.

It was nearly sundown. The air was cooling off a little, but it was still very hot. The Greenlander manhunters had to be sweltering in their uniforms, and their faces were red from the sun. Scorchlanders did not have the same problem with sunburn as those Greenlanders with lighter skin, but they still felt the heat in the same way, and Kat’s skin was damp with sweat.

The evening light glinted off tiny fragments of metal in the sand. _Desert diamonds_ , they were sometimes called. They were remnants of broken swords and forgotten structures and sometimes the glistening shells of skimmer exoskeletons. Kat tried to avoid these, but sometimes it was impossible, and she would wince as they dug into the soles of her feet.

“Move faster, you bone-headed idler.” Kat’s helper was poked in the back with the spiked club. Kat, feeling guilty, tried to pick up her pace so she wasn’t holding the other slave back, but it wasn’t easy. Her ankle was swollen inside its shackle, and lightning bolts of pain shot up her leg every so often. She glanced at her fellow slave, who was a female Shek of about Kat’s own age. The bony plates and the horns on her head typical of her race explained why colliding with her had hurt so much. The other woman didn’t seem to notice her looking, and was instead staring straight ahead of her with a grim expression.

Kat followed the Shek’s line of sight and saw, far off in the distance, the metal walls of a settlement. The moons were just off to the side, vaguely illuminating it from behind. Now that dusk was setting in, it was getting harder to see where they were walking, and Kat’s bare feet trod on more of the hot and sharp shards of desert diamond. She screwed her face up but did not make a sound.

None of the slaves were speaking. Kat got the sense that the manhunters wouldn’t like it if they did. If she’d had more courage and the capacity for speech, she might have sung to keep her spirits up. A song had come into her mind from her childhood in Shark, and her hobbled feet marched as best they could to the silent beat. So long as she focused on the words and the tune, she could just about stop herself from thinking about what was going to happen next.

“Got some slaves for you,” one of the manhunters said as they reached the gate. The slaves stared sullenly at him but remained silent. “Ten of them.”

“Excellent,” said a guard. “Bring them through.”

The manhunter at the front of the group shook his head mulishly. “I want to negotiate payment.”

“ _Fine_. Four hundred for the scrawny-looking ones and five hundred for the Shek.”

“I want at _least_ a thousand for the Shek. She put up a good fight.”

“Fighting skills are of no use here,” grumbled the guard, but he waved his hand to let them through. “Negotiate with the boss, I’m just here to stand at the gate.”

They passed the guards and entered the slave camp. The grating sound of many pickaxes chipping away at stone was barely audible over the sound of a rising wind behind from them. Kat’s eyes began to feel gritty. A sandstorm was brewing.

As the leader of the manhunters haggled with the slaver boss, the slaves were brought – or dragged, in some cases – to their cages. Kat was forced to her knees while scissors dragged at her long hair, sending it falling to the ground in white chunks. A razor blade was then scraped roughly across her scalp, removing the last traces of her hair and shaving her bald. The cage door was then slammed shut, and Kat was left kneeling on the floor of the cage, surrounded by iron bars and her own hair trimmings.

In the next cage over, a struggle was happening. A second slaver was called up to hold the Shek down as her horns were sawn away. She fought and scratched and bit and was only subdued when the slaver threatened to saw her “less useful” fingers off as well if she did not comply. They left her curled up on the floor of the cage, her hands covering the stubs that had once been long and beautiful horns. Kat had heard bar-talk of a custom among some slaver-groups in the United Cities, where Shek horns were considered good luck, and were used as charms. Her hair did not have the same significance, either to herself or to the slavers, but she no longer felt quite like herself now it was gone. She sat on the floor, dully picking up clumps of hair and letting them fall through her fingers.

The wind was picking up even more now. Kat’s cage was covered by a canvas sheet suspended on sticks, but that was only useful for shade, and there was no longer any sun. The wind howled and blew sand across the rooftop, and Kat turned her back so the sand was not in her eyes. The world outside the slave camp was now completely lost in darkness and swirling sand. Kat could only just make out a few lights down below in the camp, and see figures milling about. Distantly she was aware of the manhunter leader, still arguing over his pay.

After that the temperature dropped significantly, and the minimal clothing that Kat had appreciated earlier in the day was now not enough to keep her warm. Last night had been spent by a campfire, with Kat and Longstoat huddled together against the chill desert temperatures – until the skimmers had got Longstoat and Kat had been forced to make a run for it.

_I’m sorry._

Kat had been feeling almost emotionless ever since that initial flood of fear at running into the manhunters. Now, some of the numbness was starting to wear off. Kat had never been one for self-pity, but this was a good time to indulge in it. She bowed her head and felt hot tears spring to her eyes. As the wind suddenly changed direction and blew sand into her face, she was glad of the fact she was already crying.

She became aware that the Shek had not moved since the slavers had left. She reached a tentative hand through the bars and laid it on the cold iron of the other woman’s cage.

“Are you asleep?” she whispered.

The Shek did not reply.

“Thank you for helping me back there. I know you had to, but… thank you.”

The Shek uncurled herself slightly and turned to look at Kat. It was difficult to make out her expression in the darkness and sandy wind, although the latter was dying down. But she did crawl to Kat’s side of the cage and place her own hand on the other side of the bar.

“What’s your name?” Kat said.

The Shek looked surprised, like she didn’t expect anyone really cared to hear the answer. “Rei,” she said hoarsely.

“I’m Kat.”

Rei tried to smile, but the corners of her mouth dropped quickly. At such close proximity, Kat could see the utter defeat in her eyes. She had already given up.

“It’ll be OK,” Kat said hopelessly, though she wasn’t sure she believed that.

“It won’t be. Not for me.” Rei leaned her head against the side of the cage. She felt the stubs of her horns. “It’s our culture.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m nothing to other Shek now. The manhunters defeated me in battle and they cut off my horns. It’s what my people do to punish transgressors, usually cowards. Even if I somehow escape, I’ll always be a slave.”

Kat wasn’t sure what to say. She sat and hugged her knees and watched as Rei retreated back inside herself, curling up on the floor of her cage with her back to Kat. Kat wasn’t about to let hope desert her. She had experienced setbacks before, though admittedly nothing quite as dire as being kidnapped and caged in the middle of a harsh and unforgiving desert. Despite her best efforts, her thoughts were not much cheerier than Rei’s as she fell asleep.

 

* * *

 

 

_“And when I’m lifted away by the wind in my hair, I will fly away, and fly free.”_

_The old woman sings from her stool as she sits on her porch and watches the world go by. Her dark skin is unwrinkled in spite of her age, a product of the lack of sunshine in the swamp regions. Kat is beside her, perching on the low wooden rail that has saved many a customer from falling into the water. The stool and the railing are both rotting with the constant damp and will need to be replaced at some point. Technically Kat is supposed to be manning the turret on the corner, but there hasn’t been trouble all day and she’s more than ready to spring to action._

_“Grandma,” Kat says, “have you ever been outside the swamps?”_

_The old woman purses her lips and shakes her head in regret._

_“Not even in my younger days. And at my age, it’s too dangerous to leave. Old lady like me’d stand no chance. Want to buy any drugs?” she calls out suddenly to a passer-by. “Any fish or drugs?”_

_The passer-by, who is clearly not a local by the looks of him, looks offended and moves away._

_“I know that’s what I’d want if I’d crossed all that swamp and avoided those ninjas and spiders,” the old woman says with a resigned tut and a shake of the head. “A good full stomach and some hash to take my mind off it.”_

_It’s slow business sometimes. Today is one of those days. The old woman lights up a pipe and the smell of burning hash fills Kat’s nostrils. She doesn’t much care for the high that hash provides, and she moves upwind so the smoke doesn’t blow into her face._

_“Don’t be like me, Kat. There’s more to you than just a simple fish-and-hash seller. You could be anything. Go and see the world. Learn to fight.” She draws in a little too much hash smoke, and coughs. “And most importantly, never let yourself be owned by anyone. Metaphorically or not. You are your own person, and you belong to no-one.”_

 

* * *

 

Kat woke up with the early morning sun burning her face. Rei was not in her cage and for a confused moment Kat thought she had escaped, but then she peered over the edge of the roof and thought she could see the Shek down below, working away at a stone mine while a slave-driver occasionally yelled and cursed at her. There were so many slaves down there that they were barely able to get the elbow room to lift the pickaxes above their heads. Evidently, those surplus to requirements had just been left to sleep in their cages. For that, Kat was extremely thankful.

Her stomach growled loudly, and she realised that she had not eaten anything since the _gohan_ she and Longstoat had shared around the campfire a lifetime ago. At least her hunger was her main source of discomfort now. Her ankle was feeling much better after a rest, however fitful, and she could think more clearly than she could the day before. Her broken tooth still bothered her as it had been knocked sideways and was jabbing into her tongue, but there wasn’t much she could do about it.

_If I ever get out of here_ , she thought to herself, _the first I’ll be doing is finding a way to rip this damn tooth out of my head_.

The rooftop was covered in sand from the previous night’s storm. To stave off the boredom Kat drew patterns in it and wrote her name over and over again. A former slave had once come to buy drugs off Kat’s grandmother, and he’d told Kat that a name was surprisingly easy to forget. After a year or two of imprisonment, of being referred to by a number or simply as “slave”, it had taken him weeks to be able answer to anything else. When the guard looked over Kat hurriedly scuffed the sand and pretended to be staring at the floor. Passive. Like a good slave.

“Hey, slave!”

With a jolt of fear, Kat realised that the guard was coming towards her, and she braced herself for a beating. But the guard simply reached through the bars, dropped something on the floor, and shoved a bottle of water into the cage. “Drink.”

Kat’s lips felt cracked; she could feel the dryness becoming sores around her mouth. So she drank. The teat of the bottle tasted salty, and it occurred to her that it was probably some other slave’s sweat. It barely mattered to her; she needed the water. But her thirst was barely quenched when the guard yanked the bottle away and moved off. The removal of the bottle left a few drops of moisture on the floor of the cage. Kat stuck her finger in it and put it to her tongue. It was as she did so that she saw what the guard had dropped.

She picked it up. It was bread, stale and dry in the hot desert sun, and barely amounted to more than a few crumbs, but it was food. She ate it hungrily, ignoring the crunch and grit of the sand in her mouth. Maybe the sand would fill it out a bit.

The time dragged. Kat counted the bars on her cage, the tufts of hair on the floor, the number of bootprints the guard had left in the sand. She dozed. She hummed to herself as loudly as she dared. She fiddled with the shackles on her wrists and idly wondered if there was some way to pick the lock. She thought about her grandmother, and of Longstoat, not without a pang of sadness. She thought of the Hub, her first major port of call on her way out of the swamps, and her journey through the Holy Nation and across the desert. The Holy Nation had left her with a bad feeling and a bitter taste, although at least _they_ had not abducted her.

It was not pleasant, being left with no company but the stoic guard and her own thoughts, but there wasn’t much she could do. So she sat and sighed and waited for Rei’s return.

Rei was brought back to her cage with her face tight and the skin under her right eye bruised and puffy. She was thrown in unceremoniously, and the slaver who’d brought her stalked off without a word.

“Are you all right?” Kat whispered. “What happened?”

It was twenty minutes before Rei replied.

“I hate them,” she muttered. “I _hate_ them.”

That was all she said for a long time.

Eventually Kat managed to coax the story out of her. Apparently a noble slave master lived in the camp who had a particular preference for Shek women. The Shek slaves, who all knew this, tried their best to look out for each other, and would pass on any fragments of rumour or gossip that they had heard. It was in this way that Rei had found out the master had his lecherous eye on her, and was thinking of taking her to his bed that night.

Kat’s stomach roiled. “He didn’t…”

“No,” Rei said flatly. “I back-chatted one of the guards so he would make me less desirable.” She held a hand up to her swollen eye. “I guess it worked.”

Impulsively Kat reached through the bars and grabbed Rei’s other hand.

“It doesn’t even mean I’m safe. When this heals up…”

Rei let out a dry sob. Kat was utterly lost for words. She lay down in the gritty sand with her hand stretched out towards Rei’s, and the pair of them linked fingers. They would almost certainly get a beating if the drunken guard noticed, but Rei seemed to take some comfort in the physical touch.

“We will be free,” Kat promised.

Rei did not respond.

 

* * *

 

It had been months since they had arrived in the slave camp.

Kat was frankly surprised she was still alive, or even had any lingering _desire_ to live. Her muscles ached constantly, her arms and legs felt weak, and she’d lost so much weight she’d had to tie knots in the waistband of her filthy loincloth to keep her modesty intact. Rei was a little less skeletal, but she barely spoke at all these days. Nobles always – _always_ – got what they wanted.

Kat wanted to kill Lord Slave Master Haga. She had never hated someone with as much burning passion as she did him. She had never seen him, but from Rei’s faltering descriptions, she thought she could pick him out of a crowd. She hated him for Rei, and she hated him for the empty shells of the slaves he worked to death in his quarry. That little knot of rage and hatred kept her going. She had not given up. _Would_ not give up.

She’d gotten used to everything by now. How much she ached, how much she stank, how little she cared about such things. The only thing that brought her comfort was watching the skimmers skitter about on the sands outside. Sometimes she superimposed the imagined face of the master onto Longstoat’s, and relived the painful memories of his death just to satisfy her own hatred.

The tooth had come out at last. She’d been hit in the face one too many times, and the dislodged tooth had been knocked onto her tongue and had almost choked her. She’d looked at the small white thing that had caused her so much pain for so long, and had felt nothing but relief.

To pass the time when her labour was not required, she would inspect the locks of her shackles, peering at the mechanism, trying to work out what shape of key would turn the lock. If she had a long hook or a pick, she might be able to push the pins in just the right way, and if she managed _that_ she would be able to remove the shackles. On the other hand, the cage lock was of a significantly higher standard, and she wasn’t convinced she’d manage to get out of the cage even if she somehow _could_ take the shackles off. She had the feeling she would take any chance at all to escape, however slim it might be.

Her chance finally came when the skimmers attacked the gate.

For their size, the skimmers were stupid. _Really_ stupid. But they had insectoid brains, so perhaps that was to be expected. Usually they just roamed around in the desert wastes, searching for things to eat, and left the well-guarded towns well alone. But on occasion they would try and attack the stone camp, sensing food inside, and guards would be dispatched to deal with them.

On this particular day, Kat and Rei were working side-by-side on a huge chunk of stone, trying to break into smaller pieces. The sun burned in Kat’s eyes and her vision kept blurring, but she worked through the discomfort and the sweat dripping down her face. It was only when she heard a shout that she looked up and saw, off by the gate, the giant form of a skimmer attempting to force itself into the camp. One of the guards was already down.

The onslaught of the other guards’ attacks drove the skimmer backwards, but at that moment another skimmer came from the opposite direction and also began to attack. The slave-drivers were distracted, some of them running of their friends’ aids. At this, Kat saw one of the slaves drop his pickaxe and charge for the gate. She stared for a second, then grabbed Rei’s wrist and said, “We’re going.”

Rei simply nodded. She made no effort to resist Kat’s grasp, and kept pace with her as they followed the other slave.

Three slaves charging at the gate gave far better odds than just one, and the guards were too preoccupied to notice that the figures who ran past were not their backup at all, but their own runaway slaves. Then the man stumbled and fell into the sand. One of the skimmers, which had retreated, went after him. Kat grabbed Rei’s hand, pulling her around the side of the wall. There were no people on the walls, and if they stayed in the shadows the guard on the rooftop of the slave’s storm-house would not see them.

“How did we…” Rei’s eyes were huge.

“I don’t know.” Kat could barely believe it had worked and they had not been cut down trying to get through the gate. The confusion of the attack had just been enough. She knew she couldn’t leave Rei to the clutches of the noble master, but if they’d failed, and she’d dragged her friend into danger… She realised she was shaking. “We have to go in case they send anyone out.”

Rei followed Kat like an obedient child. They hurried across the exposed sands and hid behind a sand dune. Kat’s heart was beating fast. Now all they had to do was stay free. They’d never had a lot of reason to believe in Okran in Shark, but now she sent up a silent prayer and searched the sand for a fragment of desert diamond. It was the time to test her lockpicking theory.

She found a shard that was the right size and shape for easing the lock. It must have come off an ancient broken machine or maybe even a Skeleton. She eased the makeshift pick into the lock on Rei’s skinny wrist, holding her breath and hoping. They wouldn’t get far shackled. They would immediately be recognised as runaway slaves and turned back in for the bounty.

“You should do your own first,” said Rei.

“Yours will be easier.” Kat didn’t have much hope of taking her own shackles off. The heavy collar around her neck would have to be done without being able to see anything, and she wasn’t sure Rei had the first idea of how to pick a lock.

As she was working, she suddenly became aware that Rei had tensed up.

“What is it?”

Rei pointed behind her. Cursing, Kat spun around. A skimmer had appeared out of nowhere, as if it had risen out of the sand. Kat fleetingly remembered that skimmers sometimes buried themselves and lay in wait. Had they unknowingly walked over a skimmer ambush?

However it had happened, they had to get away and fast. Kat grabbed Rei and ran, giddy with adrenaline, her shackled legs feeling like they were made of iron themselves. _Please no_. _Not like this_.

She soon realised that she was no longer dragging Rei, but the other way around. Lack of food caused the world to spin around her, and it occurred to her that Rei was now the stronger of the two. She tripped over a rock and sprawled in the sand, grit flying into her face. Rei let out a desperate scream and threw herself over Kat.

“Run, don’t worry about me, just run,” Kat gasped, more from the impact than anything else.

“Go away!” Rei cried desperately, her shackled hands laying heavy iron weights into the creature’s side. It might have worked had she been stronger, and not preoccupied with protecting Kat, but she was in a vulnerable position. The skimmer hissed and struck out at her.

A wild, crazy idea came to Kat. She grabbed Rei’s shoulder and threw herself sideways. They’d been hiding on the slopes of the sand dune, and now they rolled down that slope, straight between the creature’s legs. The momentum covered Kat in sand; it went into her mouth, choking her, and her eyes, blinding her. Then they crashed into something solid, and all went silent.

Kat lay with eyes squeezed shut, feeling Rei’s ragged breathing beneath her. Nothing happened. She sat up, sand clinging to her eyelashes, and saw the skimmer disappearing over the top of the dune. She was momentarily confused, then she realised that a big drift of sand had blown up against a large erratic rock formation, and the momentum had buried them. The skimmer, not having the mental capacity to realise that its own trick had been used against it, and having little object permanence, had decided its prey was gone and had wandered off.

Skimmers really _were_ stupid.

She pulled Rei out of the sand-drift. The girl retched and spat sand out of her mouth.

“Are you…” Then Kat noticed the blood. “Oh.”

Rei put a sandy hand to her bare abdomen. The skimmer had slashed her from her navel to her side. The wound was neat, like the work of a skilled sabre user, but it was bleeding profusely. Red drops of blood were splashing onto the sand.

“It’s fine,” Rei said stubbornly.

“It’s not fine, you’re bleeding and…” What if another skimmer came? How would she be able to stop the bleeding? Rei had her hands pressed against the wound, but blood was seeping out between her fingers. “We need a first aid kit. Steal one if we have to. Look, I – I’ll try and get one from the camp.”

“No! Neither of us are going back!” Rei was trying to put on a brave face but Kat could tell she was in pain, and the fear in her voice was very real. “Maybe we can find a trader.” It was a desperate shot, like dropping a string of cats in the desert and retracing your steps hoping you’d be able to find it again. The chances were miniscule. “They might not be hostile to us.”

They struggled through the sand, hampered by their hunger, their shackles, and in Rei’s case, her injuries. They altered their route to avoid two people in the desert; with their dark clothes, there was a high chance they were hostile farmers and they certainly weren’t in a trader caravan. But the people had seen them. One of them shouted something, but their words were snatched away by the wind. Kat wasn’t stupid. She knew enough about the desert to know that it was either a demand for tribute or a demand for them to stop and be recaptured.

“Fuck.”

A tide of panic and despair washed over Kat as the two people burst into a run, heading straight for them. They were armed; one of them was holding a giant sword in their hands. _Outlaws_. Outlaws would not even deliver them back to the slavers; they would simply cut them down for possessions they did not have and leave them to bleed out or be eaten by skimmers. All was lost unless they could somehow lose them, like they had lost the skimmer. But outlaws were generally not fooled by hiding in a sand-drift. There was only one possible course of action open to them, and it was one doomed to failure.

But they had to try.

“Rei,” she said urgently, “we have to run.”

Rei did not respond. Kat got a strange wrenching feeling in her gut.

“Rei?”

Rei was swaying on the spot. Kat could see nothing but the whites of her eyes between her half-closed lids. Suddenly the Shek folded, like a skimmer that had had its legs cut out from underneath it.

“ _Rei_!”

Blood was seeping into the dry sand, expanding and sinking and making the ground harder and firmer. Kat no longer had the strength to try and run. This was all her fault. She had dragged Rei out of that stone camp, and if Rei had to die for it, so did she. She cradled her friend’s limp body in her arms, heedless of the blood that covered them both, and waited for the end.

 


	2. Horns

“Get away from her.” A pair of strong arms pulled Kat to her feet. She struggled, but found herself held firm. “Ava, do your stuff.”

“ _No_! _Rei_!” Kat screamed.

Her assailant froze. “Stay quiet,” she ordered. Hers was definitely a female voice, however gruff it sounded, but her accent was not one Kat recognised.

“ _Rei_!”

A hand clamped over Kat’s mouth. It smelled of iron and leather. Kat kicked at her captor’s shins, but her kicks were too weak to do much damage even if the weight of the shackles lent additional force to them. “Ava, be quick. There’s a fucking skimmer over there.”

“This isn’t going to be quick,” Ava snapped. She was a Greenlander, with brown hair pulled into a single tight braid and a face slightly reddened with sunburn. She was wearing goggles like the ones you could buy in the Swamps, presumably for sandstorm and dust-storm protection. She was staring down at Rei. “There’s so much… I don’t know if…”

Kat had stopped squirming, too exhausted to fight anymore.

“If I let you go will you stay quiet?” her captor said.

Kat nodded, and the woman released her grip. She fell to her knees, her body shaking with barely suppressed sobs. It was then that she saw what Ava was doing. She was kneeling beside Rei’s supine form, salving and bandaging as if her life depended on it. Kat blinked. So they weren’t bandits… that meant they had to be slave-catchers of some kind. She thought about making a break for it, but knew the woman behind could probably outrun her, and in any case, what about Rei? Rei would rather die than go back. She wondered if the slave-catchers would oblige her.

“Hey, slave girl,” Ava said. “Can I ask you to keep pressure on this wound while I wrap the bandage? I can’t do it on my own.”

Kat wasn’t in much of a position to refuse, and besides, Rei was looking increasingly pale. So she nodded and knelt by her friend’s side, feeling the crimson wetness of Rei’s blood seeping through the fabric. Ava manipulated Rei’s skinny body easily, rolling her over in the sand so she could get the bandage wrapped all the way around. The other woman came over and supported Rei on her thighs so no further sand got on the bandage and the wrapping was made easier for Ava. The skimmer skittered off into the distance, not having noticed the four women kneeling in the desert sand. _That_ was at least something.

“OK,” Ava said finally as she tied the bandage. “That’s the best I can do for now. It’s going to be slow to heal because the first aid kit I have is shit, and she’ll be vulnerable for hours, but she won’t die.” She reached for Rei’s wrist and put her fingers over her pulse. “We’ll just need to make sure we don’t run into any trouble.”

Kat stared at Ava with huge eyes. Why was the slave-catcher talking like she was a friend? Her eyes drifted to the katana on Ava’s belt.

“Oh, for fuck’s…” Ava had just noticed Kat’s expression. She turned to the woman who had grabbed Kat. Kat did so too, and realised with a jolt that the woman – who was Shek just like Rei – was also missing her horns. _Is she a slave too?_ “You _did_ say we weren’t going to hurt her, right? Or dob her in?”

“Um,” said the woman.

“ _Ruka_!”

“Sorry.”

Ava sighed and ran her hands across her scalp. She addressed Kat. “Look, we want to help you. We don’t mean you any harm. If you come with us we can protect you. You’re not obliged to stay with us, but frankly we’re the best damn chance you have.”

Kat looked down at Rei, limp and motionless in the sand. For the first time since her friend had collapsed, she felt a small burning spark of hope somewhere inside her soul. “Really? You’ll help?”

Ava reached into her backpack and pulled out a small, compressed foodcube. Kat looked at it with wide eyes, then fell on it ravenously. “Proof we’re not out to get you. That foodcube is worth more than the pair of you would be to any slavers.” She turned to Ruka.

“Ruka, can you carry this one? Be careful of her wounds.”

“Can do.” Ruka picked Rei up as if she weighed absolutely nothing and put her over her shoulder. Kat stared at her. She already had a massive sword strapped to her back, yet she moved with ease, as if her burden was miniscule. She had to be strong.

Ava considered Kat’s shackles for a minute. “We’d better take these off or we’ll never smuggle them in to Bark.”

“We’re going to Bark?” For a moment Kat was filled with terror.

“It’ll be OK.” Ava plucked a thief’s tool out of the pocket of her trousers and began to fiddle with the locks. “If needs must, we can swim around the walls to avoid the guards.” She made short work of the shackles, and motioned Ruka over so that she could unlock Rei’s. When they were done she glanced at Kat and said, “We’ll bribe the guards if we need to. Right, let’s get moving and quickly. I think it’s probably best if I carry you.”

Kat was too tired to argue. She let Ava pick her up, and spent the next few hours dozing with her head lolling against the squashy canvas of Ava’s backpack, digesting the food in her unaccustomed stomach.

She was woken up by shouts. Raising her head groggily, she looked up and saw that the sun was quite a bit lower than it had been. Behind her, she could hear Ruka cursing. “Fucking manhunters.”

“Sorry about this,” Ava said to Kat. Before Kat could ask any questions, she called to Ruka, “Run!”

Being carried by someone running at full speed was far more unpleasant than being carried at walking pace, and Kat thought she was going to throw up her foodcube at several points. Finally Ava yelled, “I think we lost them.”

“Thank fuck for that,” Ruka muttered fervently.

They slowed to a walking pace, which Kat was grateful for. She could hear Ava breathing heavily. “All right. We’re almost at Bark. I suggest we stop just outside and wait for nightfall. If we can get through as quickly as we can they _may_ not ask too many questions.”

They sat and waited a safe distance away, keeping an eye out for the samurai who policed the United Cities. Ruka dampened a scrap of cloth and used it to cool Rei’s brow. Rei looked like a broken doll, and the top layer of bandage on her abdomen was lightly bloodstained. In spite of Ava’s assurances, Kat still couldn’t quite trust that her friend was going to be all right.

They did not have to wait for too long before their shadows lengthened and the lights went on in Bark in the distance. Ruka picked up Rei again, and Ava picked up Kat. Then they hurried towards the town, carefully avoiding a lone skimmer which was lurking in the darkness.

Thankfully they met with no trouble from any samurai, and the guards on the gate were tired and slightly drunk. They simply waved Ruka and Ava through, and it occurred to Kat that if the guards _did_ recognise her and Rei as escaped slaves, they might simply be assuming that Ruka and Ava were bounty hunters going to turn them in at a police station. Kat wasn’t completely sure that this wasn’t the case, although it didn’t explain why Ava had given her food.

Ava unlocked the door to a building and, after checking the coast was clear, beckoned them inside and locked it behind them. “You awake?” she asked Kat on her shoulder.

“Yeah,” Kat mumbled.

“OK. I’m going to put you down.”

Ava set Kat down on the gritty wooden floor, far more gently than the manhunter had done. Kat looked around, blinking her eyes to see better in the dim light. The building was a storm-house identical in construction to the one that Kat had been imprisoned in for so long, but it was friendlier-looking, with an electric light on the ceiling and a small table with stools in the corner. On the floor were two cushions, and there were two beds in the corner with a stool between them. Ruka had already put Rei into one of the beds and had vanished without a word. Ava seated herself on the stool beside Rei, looking a little worried. “She needs to eat but I don’t want to choke her. I’ll wait until she becomes more conscious and make sure she’s fed.”

From her tone of voice, Kat guessed that she wanted to be alone with her patient for a while. She headed up the stairs to the roof, wondering what had become of Ruka. She found the Shek sitting under a canvas shelter, drinking a glass of sake. She offered some to Kat. “You look like you need it.”

Kat gulped it down and immediately regretted her gusto. There was plenty of sake in Shark, of course, they were renowned for it, but her grandmother had never permitted her to drink anything more alcoholic than watered-down grog. “Yeah, take it easy,” Ruka said as she spluttered. “That’s strong stuff.”

Kat passed the cup back to Ruka, having changed her mind about the stiff drink. “Thanks. For helping us. I… we would have died if you and Ava hadn’t come along when you did.”

“Oh, that was all Ava. She has a keen sense for that.” Ruka smiled but the smile did not quite reach her eyes. Kat glanced at the stubs of her horns, wondering if Ava had rescued Ruka in the same way, but seeing that Ruka had noticed, blushed and looked away.

“Are _you_ hurt?” Ruka said.

“No.” She felt bruised and achey from her uncontrolled roll down the sand dune, but it wasn’t anything to trouble the doctor over. Still, she wasn’t quite sure that she wasn’t lying. Ruka shot her a sympathetic look and topped up the sake cup.

“You want me to get you something else? I think we have some rum somewhere.”

“I think I’m OK, thanks.”

They sat in silence for a while. It felt good being up on the roof, with a strong sea breeze keeping Kat downwind of Ruka. She was very aware of how filthy she was and how bad she smelled, and in the enclosed space of downstairs it had been unpleasant and embarrassing. But the salt rolling in off the sea felt clean, and she knew as soon as the opportunity arose, she would be running down to the waves and fully submersing herself in water, for the first time since the river-lands in the Holy Nation.

“We’ll get you some clean clothes as well,” Ruka said. “You’ll probably want to burn those.”

“Thank you.”

Kat longed to ask Ruka about how she had met Ava, but she had a feeling it had something to do with the stubs of Ruka’s horns. It felt like a sensitive topic, if Rei was anything to go by.

“I was a warrior.” Ruka drained the rest of the cup. “I fell in battle, I survived, I came home and they cut off my horns because they saw me as a coward. Demoted me to a servant.”

“The Shek?”

“Yeah.” There was a hard edge to Ruka’s voice. “And you know what that means? Your family disowns you, your friends abandon you. We’re a proud culture, a culture of warriors. They don’t want to be associated with disgraced servants. My lover abandoned me. It… it was a dark time.”

She poured another glass of sake.

“But you don’t need to hear about any of that. The point is, I’m still here. And you’re free. That’s what matters. So, what’s your name, anyway?”

“Kat.”

“And your friend, what’s her name?”

“Rei.”

“Well, it’s nice to have some more people around.” This time the smile _did_ reach Ruka’s eyes. “Just don’t let our efforts go to waste. Stay in the house until the hue and cry has died down. Don’t even go up to the roof unless it’s dark. When they stop looking for you and your hair starts growing back, that’s when you’re safe to start wandering around.”

Kat nodded. It didn’t sound particularly thrilling exchanging one kind of imprisonment for another, but she appreciated Ruka’s concern.

“You take the other bed,” Ruka continued. “We’ll sleep on the floor.”

“Are you sure?”

Ruka rolled her eyes. “We get to sleep in a bed _every_ night. I think it’s time for you to get that luxury.”

They went back downstairs. Ava was sitting at Rei’s bedside, her eyes glazed and her head nodding. Ruka gently guided her over to the floor cushion and laid her down, then curled up beside her. Taking that as a signal to go to bed, Kat switched off the light and lay down on the spare bed. She fell asleep almost instantly.

 

* * *

 

Despite how tired she was, Ava was still awake.

Try as she might, she could not stop thinking about the two slaves they’d rescued out in the desert. It was not just the Shek’s wounds that troubled her, but her smell. The Scorchlander had stunk, and still did, of sweat and filth, and Ava suspected she might have wet herself with fear earlier. But that was to be expected. The Shek smelled of blood and sweat, but to a lesser degree, and Ava had detected the faint trace of lavender on her skin. The nobles’ preferred scent.

She sat up on her floor cushion and lit a lantern, then brought it over to the two escaped slaves. They were young. Ava had thought she and Ruka were young, but they had at least a decade on these girls. Poor things. The Scorchlander had more or less passed out as soon as her head had hit the bed, and she didn’t look as if she’d wake for anything. The Shek _certainly_ wouldn’t wake for anything; she was still deeply unconscious, and had it not been for her faith in her medical skills Ava might have feared she would not pull through.

Ava knew the world was built on slavery. It didn’t mean she had to like it, or what it did to people.

Her heart thudding painfully with exhaustion, Ava brought the lantern over to inspect the Shek’s bandages. She wanted to change the dressings but it was too dark, and besides, tired doctors meant dead patients. She brought the lantern over to the girl’s face instead and looked at her more closely; her cheeks were lightly freckled, her lips full, but her eyes had dark bags under them, and wrinkles that did not reflect her youth. Anger boiled up inside Ava like water in a cooking pot when she thought about what had happened to her. She had to put the cheap Hiver lantern down before she broke it.

Ruka stirred in the corner. “What’s going on?” she muttered sleepily.

“Nothing.” Ava did not trust Ruka to not go storming into the slave camp in a tempest of righteous fury. “Go back to sleep.”

Ruka rolled back over to face the wall. Judging by her breathing, she was out again in seconds. Ava only wished sleep would come as readily to her. She set the lantern down on the table and sat and stared at it until she fell asleep, her head on her arms.

 

* * *

 

In the morning the water in the sink was at just enough of a spurt for Kat to be able to wash herself, albeit in a rudimentary fashion. She was so covered in grime from the desert and her imprisonment that she was surprised Ava and Ruka hadn’t complained. At least she didn’t have to worry about her hair being filthy. If she ran her hand over her head she could feel the texture of the white peach fuzz on her scalp. It made her feel a little less like a slave.

She sat on the stool by Rei’s bed, watching the slow rise and fall of her friend’s chest. She looked better today. Not brilliant – she was still a way off being brilliant – but she was better. As her consciousness slowly started to return, Ava made a point of kneeling on the other side of the bed, telling her where she was and assuring her that she was safe. It wasn’t long before she was capable of swallowing down a few mouthfuls of water, and a foodcube mashed into a fine paste. There were moments where she was almost fully lucid, and would open her eyes and squeeze Kat’s fingers before lapsing into another round of unconsciousness.

By mid-afternoon, Rei was capable of speaking, and though her words were punctuated by pain, she showed little sign of it. Shek were tough, and Rei was no exception. Once she had established what had happened and that the two strangers in the room meant them no harm, Ava and Ruka went upstairs to the roof to give the two friends some alone time.

“Sorry,” they both said at the same time.

“What for?” they said in unison.

Kat laughed. The sound of her own laugh surprised her. She hadn’t heard it in a long time.

“I’m glad you’re alive,” she said.

“Yeah. Me too. I think.” Rei didn’t laugh, didn’t even smile. Kat wasn’t sure if she still remembered how to. But she was talking more than usual, which was a good sign. She coughed. “I think I inhaled some sand back there.”

“Sorry.”

“No. Don’t be. Your trick with the skimmer paid off. We’d _definitely_ be dead if you hadn’t done that.”

Rei tried to sit up and failed. Kat put a restraining hand on her shoulder. “You should take it easy.”

Exhausted from the exertion, Rei closed her eyes again. Soon she had fallen asleep. Her face was far less pinched and waxy than it had been when she was unconscious. It was difficult for Kat to believe she was really OK. That _they_ were really OK.

They’d gotten incredibly, incredibly lucky.

It felt weird. People didn’t tend to look out for other people in this world, certainly not to the extent where they would risk imprisonment to give two runaway slaves food and shelter. She had a feeling Ava and Ruka were of a unique sort, though she wasn’t entirely sure it was to their credit. Back in the swamps you took what you could get and extended help to only those in your family, those you owed money to, or those who were stronger and threatened you. Never to a stranger.

She puzzled over it for the next few days, stuck in the same room while all around them, people were keeping an eye out for an escaped Scorchlander and a Shek. Eventually the cabin-fever became unbearable, and the peach fuzz had now become proper stubble. So she slipped out into the town, blinking her eyes in the bright desert sunlight. She did what she had wanted to do ever since her rescue, and went down to the sea.

The water was cold and refreshing. Kat submerged herself, surfaced with a gasp and swam about for a minute, blinking the salty water out of her eyes. It felt _good_. The waves buffeted her gently, soothing her aches and pains, washing her clean. It was a long time before she got out of the water and struggled damply onto the sand, but it didn’t feel like long enough.

 _The sea isn’t going anywhere_ , she assured herself. _I’m free now. I can come back any day of the week._

To her delight she saw there were little stilted cabins on the seafront. There was one that looked just like the swamp-house her grandmother had owned in Shark. Kat loved the swamp-houses. She’d never thought she’d see one out here in the desert.

“Oh yeah,” Ava said when Kat brought it up later, “that’s ours.”

Kat’s eyes sparkled. “Can I go and have a look?”

“Sure. I’ve got the key here.”

Kat spent a lot of time in the swamp-house. It was used as a storage area, with metal boxes piled up against the walls. Kat tried to go snooping, but the boxes were all locked and she didn’t want to go breaking them open. She supposed Ava and Ruka couldn’t fully trust her yet.

Rei was getting stronger with every day that passed. Although Ava had warned her not to get her bandages wet, she went down to the sea with Kat and sank into the water with a groan. She scrubbed at herself with even more vigour than Kat had done, erasing the last traces of the lavender scent from her skin.

As time passed and people found something else to fixate on – the two missing slaves were now yesterday’s news – it became safer for Kat and Rei to be about for increasing periods of time. They even went to the bar with Ava and Ruka one evening. Rei sat in the corner, jumpy around the bar guards and the male patrons. Ava sat with her, glowering at anyone who came too close. Kat and Ruka nursed pints on the next table over, listening to a drunken old sot who was rambling about a tale he’d heard about the lands to the north.

“So my mate says, right, whatever he sees out there he can take on and he can _win_ against. Even the fucking gutters. He lost an eye to a gutter once. So my mate is looking forward to going out and seeing these things for himself. And then, what does he see but a fucking mountain lumbering towards him? Nearly pissed his pants, he did.”

“Fascinating,” Kat said politely.

Ruka raised her brows. “A mountain?”

“Yer. The Leviathan Coast ain’t called the _Leviathan_ Coast for nothing. The mountains _walk_ up there. Big fucking things, they are. And then my mate takes his sword and after a long and bloody battle, he takes the mountain down…”

“I think your mate’s having you on,” Ruka said with a chuckle. “That never happened.”

“It _did_. I’ll arm wrestle you for it.”

The table shook and the foam spilled over the top of Kat’s tankard. She made her excuses and went over to the other table. Ava was watching the arm wrestling Ruka with disapproval.

“We had to help pay for a new table last time,” she said.

Kat shared her grog with Rei. Ava opened her book. There were yells of pain from the drunkard.

“It fucking happened!” He got up, his stool toppling backward, and slammed his fist on the table. Ruka, who had beaten him at not one but six rounds of arm wrestling, stayed seated. “I tell you, it fucking happened!”

A small band of mercenaries who’d been having an intense discussion in the far corner turned around and hushed him.

“Maybe you shouldn’t stake the truth of your claims on arm wrestling.”

“You cheated!”

Ruka stood up. The bar went very silent. Ava put her head in her hands.

“I’m sorry?” she said, her voice dangerous.

“Ruka…”

Kat made to stand up, but Rei shook her head. “He’s challenging her honour.”

Ruka unsheathed her sword. “Care to take that back?”

The man was either too stubborn or else too drunk to know when to back down. He drew his own katana.

A tall Shek, one of the mercenaries in the corner, stood up. “Let’s make this a fair fight, no-horns.”

There was a mass intake of breath. Ava groaned and thudded her head into the table. At this point Kat nearly _did_ step in, but one look at the two Sheks’ weapons was enough to keep her glued to the spot.

“If you break anything, you’re paying for it!” the barkeep warned. He looked as though he wanted to throw all three troublemakers out onto the street, but Kat realised neither he nor any of the bar guards dared break up a duel. Leaving the counter, he hurried outside to call for backup.

The mercenaries cheered on their candidate and jeered at Ruka as the two Shek clashed in a storm of weapons. Kat, who was not willing to sit with her back to the fighting, and _especially_ not when such large swords were being swung around in such confined quarters, dived under the table and watched from there. Getting over her initial despair, Ava was shouting words of encouragement at Ruka. The drunken sot who’d caused all the trouble in the first place had slunk to the side of the room.

“Defending the lowlife flatskin?” Ruka said through gritted teeth as she met her opponent blow for blow.

“At least I still have _my_ honour, _no-horns_.”

“Crack his fucking skull in!” Ava yelled with her hands cupped around her mouth.

Kat had never seen two people so skilled with such heavy weapons. Ruka’s attacks were strong and would have cleaved a lesser man in two, but the Shek mercenary was tough and the hefty sabre he was wielding met almost all Ruka’s blows. It was impossible to tell who was winning. Then the drunkard darted out into the centre of the room, coming at Ruka with his katana raised. The bar guards grabbed him before he could intervene.

It was a short while before the fight was won. Ruka’s sword slammed into her opponent’s head, snapping off one of his horns. He staggered backwards into a table, and another blow from the flat of Ruka’s blade brought him to his knees. He stared up at her in fury, but it was over. The mercenaries hurried to patch him up while Ruka stood silently, beads of sweat dripping down her brow.

The drunkard, who was pinned by two guards and could do nothing else, spat on the floor. Ruka went up to him and punched him in the face. “Hope that sobers you up a bit.”

The man howled, blood spilling from his broken nose. “You fucking _dyke_!”

At that moment the samurai poured into the bar, headed by the breathless barkeep.

“Drop your weapon, miss,” one of them said.

“Ruka,” Ava said warningly, as Ruka looked defiant.

Ruka dropped the sword. Two of the burlier-looking samurai grabbed her by the arms. “You’re under arrest for assault.”

“For fuck’s sake,” Ava groaned as they marched Ruka from the building.

“ _You_.” The barkeep pointed a finger at the three of them in the corner. “This is the last straw. I want all of you out, right now. And don’t come back.”

“Looks like we’ve been banned from yet another bar.” Ava put her book away. Kat crawled out from beneath the table and surveyed the damage. There was blood on the floor, one of the tables had been almost cleaved in half by a missed blow from Ruka’s plank, and a leather skin of sake had been pierced and was leaking everywhere. Half the bar’s patrons had cleared out at the arrival of the samurai.

“And you’ll be paying for all of these repairs!” the barkeep howled after them as they left.

“Well, this is shaping up to be an expensive evening,” Ava said with a sigh. “I’d better go and bail Ruka out.”

Kat and Rei went back to the house in silence. It was some time before Ava returned with a much more subdued-looking Ruka, who was limping slightly. She couldn’t quite look the others in the eye.

“I can’t take you anywhere,” Ava said. “Next time, we’re having a nice, quiet night in.”

 


	3. Warrior

The training dummy had never stood a chance. It held up bravely against Rei’s initial onslaught, but before long a sweeping blow from the axe knocked it straight off its perch. It smashed onto the ground, its head rolling away and coming to a rest beneath the table.

The conversation in the house below died away at the noise, but nobody came up to see what was going on. Rei was thankful for that. She wiped the sweat from her brow and retrieved the head from under the table. The dummy was hefty and difficult to put upright, but Rei did not want to ask Ruka’s assistance. After some struggling the dummy was back in place, though the head was slightly more tilted than it had been before. It looked at Rei almost questioningly.

Rei left the fragment axe propped up against the table and sank onto the stool. The midday sun was shining brightly, and she was glad of the shade. She took a drink from her waterskin and watched the small broken clouds drift across the sky and out to sea.

Fighting did not feel the same as it had done. Her weapon felt heavier than it used to, though the weighting was no different from her old one. She could no longer empty her mind the way her old teacher had taught her. And her balance was off. In the days when she’d had horns, she’d known how to step and how to lunge and how to do all those things with the steadying weight at the back of her head. Now the balance was wrong, and it had undone a lifetime of training for her. She scowled at the axe as if it had wronged her, but she knew better than to blame it.

It felt as though she would never fight again, and that was like a knife to the gut.

Of _course_ she shouldn’t fight. To wield a blade as an honourless servant was to sink lower than low. She had already proven she was not worthy of it. Her teacher would have wept if she’d seen what had become of her prize pupil. To become dishonoured like this… such a wasted potential.

She felt the boards beneath her feet move slightly as Ava came up the stairs. Rei glared at her and she hastily retreated. Hushed voices came from below. Eventually Kat was sent up to the roof. Rei flinched; it had taken her a second to see Kat’s face, and her first instinct at seeing the Scorchlander had been to attack. She hunched her shoulders, ashamed of herself.

“Hey.” Kat hung back by the stairs, her expression guarded. Rei hoped she hadn’t looked as murderous as she had felt in that fleeting second. She smiled thinly at Kat. “Are you…”

“Fine. I’m fine.”

Looking unconvinced, Kat crossed the roof and sat beside her. “What did the training dummy ever do to you?” she said in a vain attempt at humour.

“Remind me that I can’t fight.”

Kat looked anguished. “It’s just practice. You’ll get back into the swing of things soon, I promise.”

“It’s not the same.”

They sat in silence for a minute. Finally Kat said, “I know I’m an outsider, I know I could never understand, but… screw what anyone else says. I remember what they said when we first met. You made those slavemongers’ lives really difficult. And they tried to get more for you than they did the rest of us. They saw you as valuable.”

Rei shuddered. Realising she’d misspoken, Kat hurriedly backtracked. “I just mean that… you’re a good fighter, Rei. We can all see it. What’s happened doesn’t change that.”

Rei didn’t reply with what was on her mind. The full truth of the matter would probably offend Kat. “What’s the point? _I’m already defeated_.”

Kat hesitated, then said, “You should talk to Ruka. Oh, don’t give me that look. She’ll be able to offer way more useful advice than I can.”

“I don’t care about her opinion.”

Kat ran her hands down the side of her face and paused, her fingers bunching up her cheeks. “Look, at least listen to what she has to say. She’s only downstairs, I can send her up to talk to you.”

Rei couldn’t be bothered to argue. “Fine. But this is the only time.”

Kat went to fetch Ruka. Rei leant back against the table, absently rubbing at the wound the skimmer had left. The skin had knitted together like a rope, and the scar was still crusty and half-healed, but aside from the occasional twinge and stiffness it barely bothered her. Not as much as other things bothered her, at least.

Ruka came up the stairs. They did not exchange greetings; among the Shek they were generally a marker of respect rather than a mere pleasantry. Rei could not bring herself to say anything, and sensing this, Ruka did not speak either. They sat side-by-side at the table with Rei glaring at her hands.

“Nice day,” said Ruka.

“Yeah.”

“You been training?”

“Maybe.”

Ruka, who had obviously heard the clanging of iron on iron from downstairs, shrugged. Rei noticed a speck of dirt buried in the bony plate of her forearm and tried to dig it out with a fingernail. A fly buzzed around her face but she was so engrossed in her task she hardly noticed. Finally Ruka said, “I can help you with changing your technique if you like.”

“No thanks.”

“It’ll get better,” Ruka promised.

Rei had no idea if she was referring to her fighting style or to her state of mind. Even though deep down she knew Ruka was being sincere, the words sounded phoney, like platitudes. “It won’t. Those fucking flatskins…”

She saw Ruka wince at the word and felt her own lip curl in response. How could this hornless excuse for a warrior even call herself a Shek? “The flatskins have taken everything.”

“Oh, come on,” Ruka said. “That’s not true.”

Anger flared inside Rei. “You don’t know anything.”

“Then tell me.”

What did it matter? “The slavers took my horns and most of my honour with them,” Rei spat. “The flatskin lord took the last of it.”

Ruka looked blank for a second, then realisation dawned. Suddenly Rei found herself enveloped in a tight female embrace that smelled of salt and leather. “Shit. I had no idea. Rei… I’m so sorry.” Then she let out a small gasp and let go. “I didn’t think. I’m sorry if you didn’t want to be touched.”

Rei was still reeling from the unexpected contact, but the hug had felt oddly comforting. “It’s fine.”

“Look, if you ever need to talk…”

“It’s _fine_.” Rei could see her hands shaking but could not feel them. “Why do you think I’d talk to _you_ , anyway?”

Ruka flinched as though she’d been slapped. “I just wanted to offer,” she said quietly.

“Well, thanks, but no thanks. I’m not taking advice from some disgraced fighter who had the chance to fall on her sword and didn’t.”

Ruka stood up very quickly. For a second Rei thought she was going to hit her, or duel her, but no blow came. “We’re the _same_.”

“I didn’t go limping back to my people expecting some kind of reward for my cowardice,” Rei shot back. She could tell she was hurting Ruka with every word, but it was like someone else was speaking through her and she couldn’t stop herself. “I didn’t dishonour _myself_. It was the flatskins who stripped me of everything and made me _less_ than them. Lesser than a flatskin, I would rather have let myself die if I didn’t have one of their own that I felt obliged to look out for. And I’m not making pretences to be a warrior, not now, not ever.” Cuttingly she added, “Unlike some.”

“If that’s the way you want it.” Ruka turned and left, an exit that would have been dignified for a flatskin but was dishonourable for a Shek. Rei was about to mention it when she remembered how quickly Ruka had previously leapt to defend her honour over the tiniest flatskin slight. _She doesn’t think I’m worth it_ , she thought. She really was lesser than a flatskin now.

“Ruka, where are you going? Ruka!” she heard Ava call as the front door slammed. Rei looked over the edge of the rooftop and saw the other Shek stalking off into the distance without so much as a backwards glance. She took a step back, giddy with adrenaline. The hormone rush, usually so addictive to a Shek, was not a nice feeling. She wondered if she was going to be sick.

Why had she said what she’d said? It had been cruel and unnecessary and even as she thought about it, she realised that she had simply been projecting her anger and frustrations onto someone who had just wanted to help. _Fuck_.

Kat came racing up the stairs.

“What happened?” she burst out. She groaned at Rei’s expression. “ _Rei_!”

Rei didn’t answer. Kat turned and ran back inside, but not before giving Rei a look. It was a look which told Rei she had _really_ messed up, not a look she was used to getting off Kat.

Rei went up to the training dummy and hit it as hard as she could. Her knuckles stung from the contact with the metal. Even when the dummy’s mockingly tilted head came off, it did nothing to make her feel any better.

 

* * *

 

Ava found Ruka sitting on the deck of the swamp-house, hugging her knees and gazing out across the ocean. A gentle sea breeze was rafting, and a seabird squalled somewhere in the distance.

“I thought I’d find you here,” she said. “Is it OK if I sit down?”

Ruka shrugged. Ava slumped down beside her friend in silence; she’d tried to plan what she was going to say, but the words had all sounded wrong in her head. “Are you all right?”

“Nothing you can fix.”

It had been a constant source of regret for Ava that she could not do much to help Ruka. _So much for being a doctor_. Impulsively she reached out and touched Ruka’s shoulder, her hand resting against the place where bony plate met with soft flesh. To her relief, Ruka did not pull away.

They sat and watched the waves for a few minutes.

Finally Ruka mumbled, “I always wondered if it was too late to fall on my sword.”

Ava didn’t know what to say.

“I thought about it while I was sitting here. If I swam out far enough I wouldn’t be able to swim back.”

“I’m glad you didn’t,” was all Ava could manage. As little as she enjoyed bloodshed and as sorry as she felt for Rei, she would have murdered the girl with her own hands if she had caused Ruka to do something rash.

“After they cut my horns off I sat in the middle of the Stenn Desert with a katana in my hands. The Shek call katanas a stupid, poncey weapon. But it looked deadly enough to me.” Ruka’s voice caught.

“What they did to you was _wrong_ ,” Ava said. “You’ve proven time and time again, Ruka, that you are no coward and no deserter. You never ran. You fought, right up until a paladin knocked you down. It is _not_ your fault that you didn’t wake up in time. You are a fighter, Ruka, a fighter who was unjustly treated by the very people who should recognise bravery for what it truly is. And you’re my friend. I’ve owed my life to you so many times it isn’t funny. Screw the Shek Kingdom. _They_ never saw you face off against a swarm of Dust Bandits after refusing to bow to their demands of tribute, or they’d have said you were brave too. _They_ never saw you aid and abet me in breaking the law and helping those two get to safety because it was the _right thing to do_. I know that whatever I say can’t make up for the wrongs you’ve suffered, but… even if it helps you realise that you are more than that narrow definition of courage, it’s worth it.”

She stopped, breathless. She couldn’t quite remember what she had said, only that she had opened her mouth, and words had come out. She had a suspicion that they had made her sound stupid, and for a moment she thought she was right, as Ruka had not given any visible sign of having heard her. But then Ruka sighed, and her hand reached up to briefly touch the hand on her shoulder. “Thank you. It… it means a lot.”

“Even coming from a flatskin?” Ava had heard some of what Rei had shouted.

Ruka sighed. “You knew, didn’t you?”

Ava thought she knew what Ruka meant, but played dumb. “Knew what?”

“About Rei. I saw the way you both reacted when we were in the bar the other night. When that man tried to approach and ask her for a drink.”

“Yeah, I knew,” Ava said quietly. “She hasn’t told me as much, but I guessed.” She winced. “Maybe I should have warned you before you went to speak with her.”

“No. She would have hated it if I’d already known.” Ruka rubbed at the stubs of her horns, an unconscious habit Ava was used to by now. “I just wish I’d handled all of that better. I – I’m not sure she feels like she has anyone she can talk to about this stuff, and I’d thought that…”

“That she might feel she can open up to you,” Ava finished, “because you’re both Shek with similar life experiences.”

“Yeah. Only, I think I went about it the wrong way and probably made everything worse.”

“Well, it’s not like I would have done any better,” Ava said. “Don’t beat yourself up about it.”

“I’m trying not to.”

“And don’t let whatever Rei said get to you. She… she was probably just lashing out.”

“Yeah, I know. I’ve been there.”

Ava remembered Ruka’s original hurt and frustration all too clearly. They’d first met in Squin, where they’d gotten off to a somewhat shaky start. If she recalled correctly, a defensive, “Looking at my horns, flatskin?” had been the beginning of the first exchange they’d ever had. The day Ruka had stopped referring to Ava as “flatskin” and started calling her Ava had been the day they’d both realised they were friends, rather than simply two people who worked together for mutual benefit.

“She’ll come round,” she said.

“I hope so. Just by listening to the way she was beating up that dummy, I could tell she was good. It would be terrible if it all went to waste.”

“Well.” Ava stood up and stretched out her legs. Sitting cross-legged always gave her cramps in her knees for some reason. “Like I say, don’t blame yourself. Are you coming back inside?”

Ruka hesitated, then took Ava’s proffered hand and got to her feet. “I hope she hasn’t decided to run for the hills.”

“Kat’s got a sensible head on her shoulders. She won’t have let her.”

Kat and her sensible head were in the downstairs room of the storm-house when they got back. Standing beside Kat was Rei, her head held high and her eyes meeting Ruka’s gaze. Ava hoped the girl wasn’t about to let her own pride get the better of her. Then Kat nudged Rei and whispered, “Go on.”

Rei went up to Ruka, who was looking wary, and dropped to one knee like a man about to propose. Her hands gripped the hilt of her axe, which was gouging into the wooden floor. Ava opened her mouth to protest, but caught Kat’s eye and closed it again.

“I wish to apologise for my behaviour and for the inferences I made about your character. I recognise you as a legitimate warrior of the Shek, and my superior.” She faltered slightly over the word.

“No,” Ruka said, looking stunned, “I am your equal.” She helped Rei up from the floor. “And there’s no need to apologise.”

The corner of Rei’s mouth twitched. “You’ve been spending too much time with the flatskins.”

She dropped the axe – Ava winced as the floorboards splintered – and threw her arms around Ruka. Suddenly she was laughing, and Ruka was laughing too. Kat shot Ava a look which clearly said, _What the fuck is going on here?_

Ava spread her hands. _Fuck knows._ She hadn’t seen that apology ritual before, but she had a feeling Ruka had gone off script.

Rei withdrew from the embrace and picked up her axe from the ruined floor. Ruka cast an enquiring look at her and she nodded. Silently they went upstairs, leaving two very bemused humans in their wake.

“Shek are weird sometimes,” Kat muttered.

“I’ve lived with one for nearly a year,” Ava said, “and I’m still learning.” She smiled gratefully at Kat. “Thank you, by the way.”

Kat shuffled her feet. “It was mostly Rei’s idea.”

From upstairs, there came the sound of the training dummy getting the living daylights beaten out of it once again.

“I’m glad they’re destroying that,” Ava wryly observed, “and not the floorboards or each other.”

 

* * *

 

“Clear your mind,” said Ruka, “as much as you can.”

Rei chewed on the tip of her tongue as she stared at the training dummy. Every time she thought she’d cleared her mind, thoughts would take advantage of the emptiness and floor inside. The dummy kept turning into Slave Master Haga. It may have been made of iron and steel and bits of wire from old electronic components, but she was sure she could smell lavender on it. She smashed the fragment axe into its belly. The blade left a long scratch in the metal, but didn’t make a dent.

“Good strike,” Ruka said encouragingly.

 _Clang. Clang. Clang._ The noise rang out in the still air. The master stared back at Rei, completely unaffected.

 _Is that the best you can do_? His voice was syrupy and mocking. _Such a weak thing. Why are you shaking, slave girl? Are you afraid of me?_

Rei paused, took a deep breath, cleared her mind again.

 _You can’t get rid of me that easily. You’re mine._ She hit a hollow bit of the dummy and the ring echoed, sending the words _You’re mine_ all around her head. Ruka was unaffected. She couldn’t hear it. She was saying words to Rei, but Rei couldn’t hear anything past Haga’s cruel laugh in her ears. She hit at the dummy again, but her swing was weak and wild. The vibration carried up the axe and set her teeth on edge. All the while she could hear the master taunting her.

_Weak… powerless… you have no idea how that makes me feel._

“Rei?”

Rei stopped, lowering the axe, staring at the training dummy. It was just a chunk of metal now. The rising stench of lavender was no longer in her nostrils. Ruka was looking concerned.

“We can stop if you want.”

Rei was breathing heavily. She brushed away a hot tear and pretended not to notice it. “No, I want to keep going.”

“OK, let’s try a different tactic. Forget about clearing your mind for now. I want you to take all that rage you feel and murder the everloving fuck out of that dummy.”

Rei’s next shot severed the cables that secured the dummy’s right arm to its shoulder. She did the same on the other side, then landed a strong blow into the top of the dummy’s head. If it had been a human, its skull would have been cleaved in two. Rei continued to swing and stab, and looking alarmed, Ruka held up a hand. “You’re getting too close. You’ll hurt yourself.”

Rei ignored her, swiping at the dummy’s face, which kept morphing into a male Scorchlander’s. Her final, furious blow bounced off the dummy, straining her shoulder and nearly hitting her in the face. She hastily ducked to avoid it, and the fragment axe dragged behind her back, nearly breaking both her wrists. She let go with a yell, and had it not been for Ruka’s quick movement it would have gone right through the other Shek’s boot. Rei sank to her knees, tears of pain in her eyes.

“Let’s stop for now.” Ruka knelt beside Rei. “Are you OK?”

“Yeah.”

Rei would have said something else, but her pride stopped her. Ruka wasn’t fooled. “That shoulder looks dislocated. Ava should be able to fix it for you.” Rei was expecting an “I told you so”, but Ruka just looked guilty. “I’m an idiot. I should have known something like this would happen.”

She put her hand on Rei’s good shoulder.

“If it was down to me, I’d help you kill the bastard.”

Rei’s breath caught. “You would?”

“Fuck yes.” Ruka lowered her voice. “I hate nobles at the best of the times. You ever seen Lady Sanda flouncing about town like she owns the place? Which… I suppose she does. But aside from the time she told Ava she was lower than dog shit, she hasn’t hurt anyone I care about. The slave master, on the other hand…”

“I – _I’m_ someone you care about?”

“You’re on our team. For as long as you want to be, I’ll do what I do best. Defend you. I do the same for Ava, and I’ll do the same for Kat. It’s a hard world out there, and we look out for each other, yeah?”

“But… you hardly know me, and I insulted you earlier…”

“For which you apologised.”

“… and even _touching_ a noble is a crime against the United Cities.”

“Well, we’d just have to be clever about it.”

Rei hesitated. “Ava would never agree to it.” Kat would. They’d been free for two weeks. On most of those nights Rei had been plagued by nightmares and had awoken suddenly in the night, trying to suppress her dry sobs so Ava and Ruka wouldn’t awaken. Kat, who was a light sleeper, would curl up next to her in the dark and hold her as she fell asleep again, whispering that they would get revenge. Ava, on the other hand, had probably never hurt anyone in her life.

“Oh, I don’t know about that. She’s pretty protective.”

Rei could no longer hold the tears back. Ruka squeezed her shoulder. Crying did not come readily to a Shek, for both biological and societal reasons. When it _did_ happen, it tended to be messy. Rei could feel her nose running, and with every shake of her body, agony burned down her right shoulder. She could already feel the joint swelling. The wound on her belly was leaking fluid, and she realised she must have strained it in her final frenzied attack.

_That’s what I like about Shek. It doesn’t matter what you do to them, they don’t cry. They just curl up and hate themselves. Do you hate yourself yet, slave girl?_

She knelt on the floor, her eyes swimming and stinging, her breathing becoming increasingly choked. There was sand under her knees, just like the sand on the ground floor of the master’s house. The floor there never seemed to be clean no matter how often a slave was sent to sweep the sand away.

The space seemed to change around her, the rooftop becoming a room with a beautiful patterned rug on the floor. The patterns on the rug swam before her eyes and she gasped. The gentle comforting touch of Ruka’s hand became the lecherous grasp of a laughing noble.

 _No, no, no, I_ escaped _you!_

 _It’s all right_ , he said with a sneer.

She shoved him away, stumbling to her feet, knowing there was no way past the guards downstairs, but the rooftop… Wait, there was a rooftop? She tried to run for the edge but he grabbed her and she screamed.

_Hey… what are you doing?_

“Get _away_ from me!”

Her heart was too small, someone had closed a fist around it, and the world was starting to move around her. She found herself on the floor again, this time curled up in a ball, sobbing and retching and not knowing anything past the fizzing darkness inside her head. She couldn’t breathe. Was he strangling her as he had threatened to do if she struggled? Her heart and breathing felt as if it would stop at any moment…

 _Rei?_ “Rei…”

Ruka was kneeling beside her, blocking the view from the stairs, but keeping a distance. Rei’s mouth tasted of vomit, and her urge to be sick only increased when she tried to move. She didn’t need to see her reflection to know that she had to look a pitiable mess.

“Here.” Ruka passed her the waterskin. “Drink some of this.” Rei noticed the other Shek’s jaw was bruised where the bone plates met her flesh, and her voice was slightly thicker than usual. She looked at her own hands.

“How did…”

“You have a _really_ strong left hook.”

“Oh.” Rei didn’t remember. “I’m sorry.”

“It’s fine. Ava will probably freak though.”

Rei took a gulp of water, rinsing it around her mouth. At least she hadn’t thrown up on her. From the looks of things, she hadn’t actually been sick at all. She clutched at her injured shoulder, her face screwing up with pain and misery, and sniffed.

 _Pathetic_ , said a voice she couldn’t see, but it was weaker now.

“Stay there,” Ruka said. “I’ll get Ava.”

Rei sat in a daze, unsure of what had just happened. When the doctor arrived, she had to repeat her questions several times for Rei to be able to answer them. The relocation of Rei’s shoulder – a painful act that made even Ruka wince – barely made her gasp.

“I think we’d better rebandage that wound,” said Ava. “We don’t want it getting infected. Now…”

She waved Ruka away and turned back to Rei. Rei clutched at her shirt with her good hand.

“Am I going to die?”

“No, we’ll clean it out to be on the safe side and… oh.” Ava took in Rei’s stricken expression. She pulled the goggles off and pinched between her eyes. “No, you won’t die. I’ve seen it before in patients, far more times than I would like. Paladins were always susceptible…”

“ _Paladins_?”

“My dad and I were the best doctors in Stack.” Ava raised her hands defensively. “OK, I admit it, I used to live in the Holy Nation. We used to save the lives of the nation’s soldiers. And with Stack being the closest city to the Shek Kingdom, we saw an awful lot of casualties.”

“I’m not like _them_.”

“I know, I know. What I mean to say is, some of them would have nightmares of things that happened on the battlefield. It didn’t stop when they were awake. They would sweat and shake, and grab for their weapons if they heard anything that sounded like a sword being unsheathed. War is a horrible, fucked-up thing.”

“But… It wasn’t war, it was the…”

“I treated women who suffered too, who none of the men would treat,” Ava said with a hard edge to her voice. “It was happening now, wasn’t it, what happened to you?”

“Yes, but… it…” Suddenly she realised why she had punched Ruka. “Fuck. I’m going crazy.”

“You’re not going crazy.” Ava led her over to a stool and sat down beside her. “Can I hold your hand? You don’t have to say yes.”

Rei nodded. Ava took her hand in hers and they sat quietly for a few minutes. The doctor’s hand was cool to the touch. “If it happens again, we’ll make sure you’re safe.”

Had she _really_ tried to jump off a rooftop? “Thank you.”

“It’s no bother. Have you had something to drink recently? Something to eat?”

“Just some water.”

“Have some more water. Don’t let Ruka give you sake, however tempted you are. The last thing you need is a drinking problem. And I can get someone to bring you up some food if you want. I won’t go anywhere unless you want me to leave.”

“Why do you care?” Rei mumbled.

Ava raised her eyebrows. “What do you mean?”

“I mean… why do you care about me and Kat? We’re literal nobodies. We were _slaves_.”

“Keep your voice down.” Ava glanced over the edge of the roof, as if afraid that the sound had carried. Rei knew they had already attracted a lot of attention that day. “Look, I was fuckin’ Holy Nation. I have _seen_ shit happen to women, happen to anyone who isn’t human. We’ve got to look out for each other in this world, because unless you’re some fancy noble or part of a big group with a lot of punching power, you’re never safe. And I mean, it’s not just women, but we’re pretty low down on the pecking order. If you’ve got a problem anywhere in the world, as long as you haven’t pissed off the Holy Nation, if you’re a human man you can escape it by hiding in their cities. You and I are a bit more limited.”

“But you _could_ go back. You grew up there, didn’t you?”

“Yeaahhh. But even if I could deal with being treated as less human than my father was, they kind of don’t like me there. It’s a long story.”

“Oh… I see.”

“Anyway, safety in numbers. It’s a thing. And you guys are pretty fun to have around.”

Rei wasn’t sure she’d been much fun for anyone that day, but she smiled anyway. The smile felt slightly false, and her cheeks ached within seconds, but it was a smile. Ava gave her hand a squeeze.

“Food up here or downstairs?”

“Downstairs.”

They descended the stairs, Rei still holding the doctor’s hand. She saw Kat sitting at the table looking anxious, and was thankful that her friend’s face did not turn into that of the slave master. She smiled again. This time the smile felt almost genuine.

Kat beamed in relief and passed her a bowl of cooked greenfruit.


	4. Puppy

Nobody had ever consulted Ava about making her the unofficial mother of the group, but she seemed to have filled that position. She wasn’t sure how she felt about it. On the one hand, being nurturing came easily to her. On the other hand, trying to assume any responsibility for the household was like herding garru in heat and expecting them to do what you wanted. But she’d got it down to a fine art now. Adult things like sorting out finances, trying to advise Rei on matters she had no firsthand experience of, and bailing Ruka out of jail after she’d got into yet another honour duel just needed to all be balanced properly, and then everything would be fine.

It was when Kat and Rei brought home a squirming bonedog puppy that Ava’s properly balanced responsibilities came crashing down around her ears.

“Where did you get that from?” she said, her voice rising. “Put it back before someone misses it.”

Kat looked hurt. “We _bought_ him. From a caravan just outside the gates. His name is Scrap.”

“What the…” Frantically Ava thought about all the additional expenses the puppy would incur, balanced against their meagre income. They’d been haemorrhaging money for a while now. “ _Why_?”

“I thought he could be like a guard-dog for Rei,” Kat said. “So she can feel safer.”

Ava put her foot down. Sometimes being the mother, she reflected, meant being the bad guy.

“He can’t stay here,” she pointed out as Scrap wriggled in Kat’s arms. “We barely have enough space for four people as it is.”

“He’s only little.”

“He won’t _stay_ little.”

Kat was struggling to hold onto the puppy. She set him down gently on the floor. Scrap skittered, evidently unused to finding wooden flooring under his paws, then righted himself and began to bounce around, barking delightfully as he careened off the furniture. The two girls were cooing. “Oh, isn’t he _sweet_ …”

Ava dived for the bonedog but he jumped over her head and continued on his merry way. She rubbed her head, where she’d banged it on the end of Ruka’s bed. “One of you catch it for fuck’s sake.”

It was some time before anyone managed to recapture the straying animal. Finally Rei scooped the puppy into her arms. He whined, then, deciding Rei was safe, started to lick her arm. Rei laughed. The puppy looked around at the others, then sneezed.

Seeing Rei’s hopeful expression, Ava wasn’t sure she had the heart to say no anymore. Besides, maybe it would do her some good. “Fine. That dog is _your_ responsibility. And it lives _outside_. Not in here.” She righted one of the stools, which Scrap had knocked over in his mad gambol. “Quite aside from the damage, I don’t want dog hair on everything.”

Ruka, who’d been out trying to reorganise the swamp-house, chose that moment to arrive. Scrap, who was growing increasingly restless in Rei’s arms, saw her and started barking. Ruka paled.

“What the fuck is that creature doing inside the house?”

“He’s not a creature. He’s a good boy. Say hello to Ruka, Scrap.” Rei stroked the dog’s head.

“OK, OK.” Ruka had backed away down the steps to the storm-house, looking guarded. “I don’t care how good it is, I do not want that _thing_ anywhere near me.”

“You heard Ruka. Dog. Outside. Now.” Ava pointed. Ruka nearly leapt off the steps as Rei trudged past with the excited puppy in her arms. As the two girls found a shady spot to leash the puppy to, Ava turned to Ruka with a sigh. “I’m sorry. I had no hand in this, I promise.”

“You’re letting them keep it?”

“The caravan will be long gone by now,” Ava said. “As long as it’s not kept indoors, and they look after it, I don’t care where it is.” To her surprise, Ruka was still looking pale, and realisation suddenly dawned. “You’re scared of dogs.”

“No,” Ruka said, far too quickly.

“It’s fine. You can admit it. You don’t have to try and impress me.”

The paleness in Ruka’s cheeks was replaced by a flood of colour. “I’m not trying to impress anyone.”

“Yeah, sure, you have an image to maintain. I get it. Why bonedogs, though?”

Ruka shuddered.

“One nearly ripped my arm off when I was a kid. I can deal with ’em in the wild all right, they’re better than gutters at least. I just can’t see why anyone would want one as a fucking pet.” Ruka was staring at Kat and Rei, who were kneeling in the sand playing with the dog. They looked happier than Ava had ever seen them. “Look at it. It’s only a puppy, and it’s already got giant teeth. Those things will tear you limb from limb.”

Scrap’s stumpy tail was wagging under his thick, dark fur. Ava desperately hoped this would not end badly.

“Let’s go in,” she said.

She poured Ruka a cup of sake to help ease the shock. Outside, she could hear the puppy barking again, accompanied by the muffled voices of the two girls who were attempting to quiet it.

“It better not be doing that all night,” she said.

“Oh, I’m sure it will be,” said Ruka darkly.

The atmosphere that evening was, all in all, not a very good one. Rei had refused to leave the puppy alone outside, and Kat had joined her. Ruka twitched every time it barked, which was often and loudly. Ava was sitting at the dinner table, using the dim overhead light to scribble away at a piece of paper.

“What are you doing, anyway?” Ruka said, as Ava started crossing things out.

Ava passed it to her, forgetting that Ruka’s reading abilities were on a par with the average Holy Nation six-year-old. Ruka squinted at the spidery writing for a minute before conceding defeat. “You definitely write like a doctor,” she said. It was a pretty obvious attempt at saving face, but Ava pretended not to notice.

“It’s a list,” she explained. “Of people who might be able to help me.”

“With your father’s work?”

“Yeah.” Ava tapped the stub of the pencil against the paper. The nobles of the United Cities may have written in swirling ink with special writing brushes, but all she had was the worn-down graphite stub, encased in two strips of wood, that she’d brought with her upon escaping the Holy Nation. A religious message – she couldn’t remember what it was now – had originally been painted along one of the wooden strips. It had long been worn away by hand sweat and repeated sharpenings. “Maybe the Tech Hunters could help… or maybe the University of Machinists? A trip to Mongrel or World’s End might turn something up…”

“You’d have to be completely crazy to go to Mongrel,” Ruka said bluntly. “Seriously crazy. I heard it’s surrounded by a sea of fog that people just disappear into. Once you go in, you never come out again.”

“I’m sure that’s just a rumour.” But Ava had lost some of her appetite for adventure. She drummed her fingers on the table. “I’ve no idea what the fallen empires _had_ in terms of medical technology… but think about the possibilities. I could actually be a _great_ doctor.”

“You’re already great.”

Ava chuckled awkwardly. “Not at all. Just well trained.”

The thought of all that forgotten knowledge haunted her through the evening. She could remember the first time she’d laid her hands on an ancient book. She’d been six years old, and before her father had shown it to her, he’d made a very serious face quite unlike his usual expression and squatted down to look her in the eyes.

“This book could get daddy in a lot of trouble,” he’d said. “Do you promise never to tell anyone what I’m about to show you?”

She’d nodded, eyes wide. But that hadn’t been enough for him. He’d made her swear on the Holy Flame before he’d get the book out for her. Then he’d beckoned her across the little storm-house, lifted up a loose floorboard under the table, and passed something into her hands.

“Be very careful with it,” he’d said. “It’s very, very old. This is older than the Holy Nation.”

Ava remembered her awe at seeing the book. Books sanctioned by the Lord Phoenix were usually bound in leather, and these were what she was used to. But even at the age of six, she’d implicitly understood that what she was holding – with its cover made not of leather, but of some unfamiliar blue material – was an _unsanctioned_ book. She’d heard grown-ups whispering about unsanctioned books. They were a terrible thing, too dangerous to even be spoken of too loudly. She’d been a little scared to hold it, and even more scared to open it. It had only been with her father’s gentle coaxing that she had lifted the cover and leafed through ancient, yet well-preserved pages.

There had been things in that book that had astonished and frightened her. Drawings of Skeletons, the robotic creatures that had fallen into the goddess Narko’s darkness so long ago. There had been illustrations of robotic arms, robotic legs. The nice old man who sold medical supplies to her father had only had one arm. Maybe he’d have liked a robot replacement. Her father had laughed sadly, and said that there was no room for robot limbs in the Holy Nation.

“Do you have any more books?” she’d said.

“I’m afraid not, sweetie. A lot of them have been destroyed now. It’s very sad. I wish more people looked after books. But they say that there are _more_ of these in the world, and they have all kinds of wonderful forgotten things in them. Not… not magic, exactly, but it’s _like_ magic. And one day when you’re big, we can go looking for them if you like.”

“Really?” Ava’s eyes had shone; she’d never been allowed out of Stack. The paladin sentinels were always pretty good at making sure stray children didn’t wander to be eaten by wild bonedogs. “Promise?”

“I promise,” he’d said, and had scooped her into his arms. Then a platoon of paladins had come knocking with injured comrades, and he’d hurriedly re-hidden the book beneath the floorboard. “Not a word to anyone, promise?”

“I promise.”

Ava had kept that promise right up until she’d met Ruka.

“I still don’t get it,” Ruka said now.

Ava had explained it to Ruka on many occasions, but the Shek Kingdom had very little opinion of books, and so did Ruka. “What’s so great about them? They’re just chunks of decaying paper with words written on them. Wouldn’t you rather go looking for a legendary sword or something?”

“You know I wouldn’t.” Ava wished Ruka was less stubbornly opposed to new ideas. She was smarter than she let on. “If we ever go looking, and we find a legendary sword, you can have it.”

“They say there was an ancient craftsman who made the most incredible weapons,” Ruka said dreamily.

“Great.” Ava had her cheap katana, which she rarely ever used anyway. Ruka, who cared for her old sword like it was a baby, was permanently horrified at Ava’s nonchalant approach to looking after weapons. She’d practically begged Ava to let Ruka give the rusting katana a little bit of love, but Ava was not having any of it.

“I don’t _want_ to use it,” she’d insisted. “The blunter and rustier it is, the less likely I am to pull it out when there’s another way.”

“You humans have weird priorities,” Ruka had grumbled, looking at the beautifully-cared-for book Ava had been reading.

“No,” Ava had said in reply, “that’s just me.”

 

* * *

 

 

When morning broke, Kat and Rei took Scrap for a walk along the seafront. The temperature was cool; a gentle breeze was blowing in from the east and the sun had not yet fully risen. Kat and Rei had spent most of the night fussing the new puppy and had eventually dozed off alongside it. Neither had had a proper sleep.

Scrap was certainly the perkiest of the three. He would run ahead, sniffing the sand for signs of other dogs, then stop and look back enquiringly, as if asking why the shuffling, yawning girls were not as excited as he was. Eventually they came to the sea, and before anyone could stop him, Scrap jumped in.

“Shit!” Kat yelped, reeling from the splash. “We’d better go and fish him out.”

But Scrap was in his element. He doggy-paddled in the waves, barking at fish Kat and Rei could not see. A wave briefly pushed him under, but he came up with grinning teeth.

“Here, boy!” Kat called.

Scrap ignored her, paddling further out. Wishing she’d kept him on the rope, Kat waded into the waves and called out to him again. He barked, as if saying, _What’s all the fuss about? I’m having fun here. Come and have fun with me_.

“Kat,” Rei said. “He’s heading for Lady Sanda’s island.”

Calling the partially submerged rocky outcrop an _island_ was a bit of a stretch, but Kat well understood Rei’s urgency. She waded out further, this time hoping to grab him by the scruff of the neck and haul him onto dry land. Scrap had other ideas. His wet fur was surprisingly slippery, and all Kat managed to accomplish was getting out of her depth and being forced to tread water. She tried not to think about how annoying it was trying to get seawater out of leather clothes before they rotted.

“Scrap, _no_!”

Scrap barked joyfully. He jumped up onto the island, his long ears flapping. He shook himself, and ran towards the noblewoman’s guards, presumably to beg for food or leap up and put his paws on them. Kat hurriedly swam faster, salty water going in her mouth as she tried to call for him. Eventually she struggled damply to the shore. One of Lady Sanda’s men was holding the puppy by the scruff of the neck, regarding Kat as if she was some unpleasant deep-sea fish that had just sprouted legs and crawled from the ocean. Kat breathed a sigh of relief. At least they hadn’t hurt him.

“Is this yours, miss?” he said.

“Yes. Yes, he is. Thank you so much, I didn’t…”

“Uh-huh.” The man held out a hand, gesturing for payment. Kat felt her pockets. They were empty.

“Oh no, don’t have any money to pay? Too bad. Guess we’ll just throw this thing back in the sea.” He unsheathed his _nodachi_.

“No! No, please!” Kat begged.

Seeing what was happening, Rei was hurtling around the side of the bay to where Kat was.

“Please! We’re really sorry!” she said breathlessly.

“I suggest,” said the man, “that you get off the Lady Sanda’s property at _once_.” He passed Scrap to another guard. Scrap, suddenly realising that things were not fun anymore, was whining. “Hold it still. I’ll deal with it quickly.”

“No, _please_ – ”

“What’s going on here?”

Everyone stopped. Kat felt her heart leap into her throat. Lady Sanda had come out of the door and was watching the proceedings from the circular deck. Her haughty eyes took in Kat, who was dripping wet, and Rei, who was red in the face and doubled up, clutching a stitch in her side.

“My lady.” The guard who’d grabbed Scrap in the first place bowed deeply. “My apologies for the disturbance. These two… _girls_ let their vicious bonedog run amok on your property.”

“He’s not vicious, he’s…”

Kat stepped on Rei’s foot. Lady Sanda’s eyes narrowed.

“Dear me. What a state of affairs.” She glided down the stairs, trailing lavender in her wake. Rei had gone very quiet. “Now who might you two be?”

“Nobody, my lady,” Kat whispered hoarsely.

“Good. There’s only one _somebody_ in my town, and it’s me. Now, show some manners. Kneel.”

Kat grabbed Rei’s clammy hand and pulled her down. Lady Sanda regarded the pair of them for a few minutes, then said, “Perhaps you should consider a little donation for my troubles, and that of my guard.”

“W-we don’t have any money on us, my lady.”

“What a shame. We can’t do much without money. I have a lot of money, you see, but it’s always good to have more.” She stroked Kat’s stubbly head thoughtfully. “This haircut really doesn’t suit you. You don’t want to look like a slave.”

Kat swallowed. Next to her, Rei was shaking.

“Maybe that doctor of yours can help you help _me_ with a little donation. Otherwise you might find that your brutish friend stops getting let off the hook so easily. Am I not fair?” She clicked her fingers at her guards. “Drop the cur.”

Scrap yelped as he was dropped onto the sand.

“Take it with you. If I see it on this island again, I shall engage in a little blood sport.”

Kat grabbed both Scrap and Rei and hurried them over the bridge to the mainland. As soon as they were safe, she gasped, “That was close. You all right?”

Rei was shaking. She sank down onto the sand, her legs unable to support her anymore. Scrap whined and pawed at Kat’s shirt until she put him down. Then, to her surprise, he hurried over and put his nose in Rei’s hand. She buried her face in his dark fur, her shoulders heaving.

“That was close,” Kat said again. Then she realised Rei was more than just shaken up. She watched her friend helplessly, but Scrap seemed to know what to do to comfort her. He twisted, licking the side of her face. After a couple of minutes of this, Rei looked up. Her eyes were shadowed.

“Sorry,” she said.

“Hey. It’s not your fault.” Kat slipped on Scrap’s rope. “You good to go, or do you want to stay here a bit longer?”

Rei looked back at the noble house, still very close.

“Let’s go back,” she whispered.

They walked side-by-side, Rei holding the end of Scrap’s leash. He trotted alongside her, very subdued after having been grabbed by Lady Sanda’s guard, and made no attempts to run off. When they got back to the house, Ava was sitting on the steps reading a book. She saw the expressions on their faces and hurriedly put it aside.

“What happened?”

Since Rei was in no condition to explain, Kat was the one who told Ava the full story. Ava’s eyes narrowed at Scrap at several points during the tale, but she mostly just seemed concerned.

“I can’t believe Lady Sanda just let you go. She must be playing some kind of game.”

“I think she knows,” Kat blurted out. “That we were slaves.”

Ava groaned.

“And that’s not all. She’s seen you bailing Ruka out and she says that if we’re not careful she won’t let her off the hook so easy.”

“Oh, marvellous. Just what we needed. The most powerful person in town on our backs.” Ava fiddled with her braid. “Lady _Sanda_. She’s not going to let up on this. Once she starts playing her little games with you, she doesn’t stop. Maybe we should consider leaving town.”

“Leaving town?” Kat felt a jolt of guilt. “But – you were settled here…”

“Nah. It’s not like I ever wanted to grow old and die in Bark. I had plans for the long-term.”

Kat listened as Ava told her about the forgotten technologies she was hoping to rediscover. It sounded both exciting and horribly dangerous at the same time. But maybe it was better than remaining in Bark and being pawns in Lady Sanda’s game.

“You can come too if you like,” said Ava.

Kat looked over at Rei. She was sitting on the sand with her back set against the storm-house, while Scrap licked her face. “I… I don’t know. I’ve kind of made a promise to myself. If not to her, yet.”

Ava nodded, looking disappointed but resigned. “I understand. And… even if we go our own separate ways, it’s been wonderful having you around.”

“Sorry about the dog.”

“Oh, I don’t know if you need to apologise,” said Ava, “it looks like things are working out.”

Rei was giggling. Scrap was now standing on his hind legs, trying to lick between her stubby horns. Ava watched with a smile on her face. Her opinion of the puppy had softened considerably. “Well, even if Ruka’s less than enthusiastic, I suppose I’m happy to have a _third_ destructive thing about the place.”

“Third?”

“Take a lucky guess on who the other two are.”

Kat chuckled.

“There’s only one issue,” Ava continued.

“What? What is it?” Kat’s heart jumped. Was it a big enough issue to warrant getting rid of the puppy?

“I’m a doctor, not a vet. So it looks like I’m going to have to start branching out my skills.”

 

* * *

 

“All right, listen up,” said Ruka.

Scrap tilted his head to one side, wondering if Ruka was going to feed him. He’d already been fed recently, but he was still hopeful. As Ruka drew nearer he strained at his tether, barking in excitement.

Ruka immediately backed off. The barking made her shudder. If she’d been human she’d have put her fingers in her ears, but with Shek physiology being as it was, her earholes were almost completely covered by two partially fused bony plates. She pressed her hands over them instead, but the sound was still deafening. Eventually Scrap got used to her, and started running around his post in circles.

Staying well out of reach, Ruka squatted in the sand and tried again.

“Look, let’s make an agreement, right? You don’t bite me, or jump up at me, or come too close, and I’ll peacefully coexist with you. And maybe feed you leftovers if you’re lucky.”

Scrap barked. Ruka was pretty sure he’d understood none of the words – he _was_ a dog, after all – but she had the sense he had a built-in detector for the cadence of _feed you leftovers_.

“And I’m only doing this ’cause of Rei. So if you hurt her, or anyone else for that matter…”

Ruka left the threat hanging. Scrap barked again.

“Oh, whatever.” Feeling stupid, Ruka got to her feet and wandered inside. Rei and Kat were asleep, curled up on the sleeping bags they’d bought for the house. Ava was sitting at the table, the remains of a bowl of _gohan_ sitting beside her as she studied a map by the light of the cheap Hiver lantern. Ruka sat beside her.

“How’s it going?”

“Yeah, good. I think. You hungry?” Ava passed her the leftover _gohan_. Ruka tasted some. It was at room temperature now. “Sorry. It’s not great.”

“It’s fine.” Ruka put the _gohan_ to the side. “So, you’re set to go? When are you wanting to leave?”

“When I find an experienced looter, probably. I don’t know what the dangers of those old ruins are, really. Could really use someone who’s done this before.”

“Are you still sure it’s worth it?” Ruka asked doubtfully. “It sounds like a lot of risk for not much reward. You said yourself the copy your father had was unusually well preserved.”

“I’ve just got to hope,” Ava said. She put the map down. “Let’s go for a walk. I want to talk to you.”

Ruka’s breath caught. She was glad it was too dark for Ava to see her face. Ava took the lantern with her, and closed the door quietly so as not to wake the two sleeping girls, or Scrap, who was asleep by his post outside. They walked across the dimly-lit town, the sand crunching under the soles of their feet.

Finally Ava said, “You’re going to have to start being more careful.”

“What do you mean?”

Ava shot her a look, evidently surprised by her guarded tone. “Are you all right? I’m not having a go at you. Promise.”

“Sorry.” Ruka shook her head to clear it. Her heart was still thumping. “Ignore me.”

“You’re picking way too many fights. Kat and Rei had a run-in with Lady Sanda earlier.”

“Seriously? Lady _Sanda_? And they got out in one piece?”

“Yup,” Ava said grimly. “I don’t know what she’s doing, but she’s enjoying herself. Anyway, you can’t keep getting yourself arrested. It’s drawing her attention. And she has the power to make life much more difficult for us all.”

“Shit.”

“And while we’re on the subject, can you stop picking fights on my behalf? I’m not a Shek, I can cope with my honour being slighted. Jurgen, who sells us the food now we’re banned from going in the only bar in town? He’s only flirting with me. You don’t have to challenge him to a duel.”

They walked on. Ruka stayed silent, wondering if more was coming. But Ava had evidently finished her spiel. “Come on, let’s go back.”

But before they could do so, an incredulous voice came out of the darkness.

“ _Ava_? Is that you?”

Ava’s eyes widened in surprise, then lit up in recognition. A split second later she was squealing and hugging the stranger, who was hugging her back and murmuring about how good it was to see her.

“I didn’t know you were in Bark!”

“I didn’t know _you_ were in Bark! I’ve been looking for you for so long…”

“Wait,” Ruka cut in, taken aback by the suddenness of it all, “who is this?”

The two of them broke apart.

“This is my old friend Hotlongs,” Ava said with a broad smile on her face. “I think – I think he may be able to help us with our search.”

         


	5. Hotlongs

“So, who do you think he is to Ava?” Kat whispered to Rei.

They were crouched down behind the edge of the roof, engaging in a little casual espionage. Ava and the mysterious Hotlongs, who’d appeared in the middle of the night, were talking in low voices beneath them. Hotlongs looked to be about twenty-five, with sandy hair and a stubbly beard which he kept stroking. He had a cleaver blade slung from his shoulder, and an expansive-looking backpack which reminded Kat of the ones the thieves in Shark had favoured.

“I don’t know,” Rei whispered back. “Her brother, maybe?”

“Really? They don’t look that alike.”

Rei shrugged. “They’re both human, both Greenlander. That’s a good start.”

Just then Hotlongs told Ava something amusing and she laughed, pushing him playfully. Kat suddenly got the impression they were intruding on something more private than she had initially thought. She sat back on her heels. “Let’s go downstairs.”

“No way. Ruka yelled at me once already today. Just for _existing_.”

Rei hadn’t quite been _existing_ , but she’d been chewing her food too loudly and that had been enough to set Ruka off. Ruka was _angry_ today. Meanwhile some traveller with a vague Holy Nation accent had turned up in Bark. By an astonishing feat of coincidence, the traveller was known to Ava. Known intimately, if their exchange just now had been anything to go by. And Lady Sanda was, uncharacteristically for a noble, not throwing them all in prison just yet. Kat was beginning to wonder if she’d shifted into some kind of mirror-world.

As Ava and Hotlongs wandered off in the direction of the sea, Kat went downstairs. She found Ruka sitting on her bed, holding her sword in both hands, twisting the point into the floorboards. There was a small splintered pucker which only increased in size with every twist that Ruka made.

“What are you doing?”

“Nothing,” Ruka said.

It looked like a something to Kat. “Ava won’t be pleased when she sees what you’ve done to the floor. Again.”

“Ava’s too busy to notice.” Kat knew she hadn’t imagined it, that tinge of bitterness to Ruka’s voice. “She’s off with Hotshot or whatever the fuck his name is.”

“It’ll be OK,” Kat said. “He’ll probably leave again and things will go back to normal.”

“They won’t. She’s already told me. She wants to go north with him to World’s End.”

Kat blinked. “Technology hunting?”

Ruka twisted the blade harder. “Guess she’s forgotten all the plans we’ve made.” Another twist. “Because suddenly the rest of us seem to be out of the equation.”

“I’m sure we’re not. She’s just excited at seeing him again.”

“Yeah,” Ruka muttered.

Kat sat on Ava’s bed. Ruka was scowling at the splintered floor. “You, uh… need to talk?”

“What makes you think I need to talk?”

The gouge in the wood was almost big enough for Kat to fit the first joint of her thumb in, if she didn’t mind the splinters. “Just a lucky guess. Aren’t you going to damage the point of that if you keep it up?”

With a grunt, Ruka yanked the sword out of the hole and set it aside. “I don’t trust him.”

“Why not?”

“For a start, he’s Holy Nation, and as soon as Ava says she’s going to World’s End, he claims he was heading that way and says she should go with him. Why would he help Ava find something he believes is heretical? Secondly, he’s Holy Nation. And thirdly…”

“He’s Holy Nation?”

“He’s just appeared out of nowhere and swooped Ava away. Have you seen his eyes? They’re way too close together. And yet he smiles at her and she melts.” Ruka scowled. “He is _up_ to something. I can feel it.”

Kat got the inkling it was more personal than that. The Holy Nation was notoriously prejudiced against anyone who wasn’t human. Had Hotlongs said something to Ruka? She’d liked Hotlongs on first meeting, but if he was anything like the paladins who’d called her “one of Narko’s whores” as she’d passed through their territory, she might have to re-evaluate.

“I hope not,” she said. “For Ava’s sake.”

“Yeah,” Ruka said grimly.

“So… is he her friend, or…” Kat had been agog with curiosity ever since she’d met him. “Or… do you think he’s her boyfriend?”

Ruka twitched. “Ava has better taste than that.”

“OK. I was just asking.” Kat decided maybe it was better not to ask. Ruka was looking murderous, and her sword was within arm’s reach of her. Kat decided to leave her to it. As she turned to leave, she felt the thump of the sword going into the floorboards once again. She chewed at the corner of her mouth. It was difficult to shake off the feeling that Ruka was hiding something from her.

 

* * *

 

 

“I always heard the sea was beautiful,” said Hotlongs, “but I never had the opportunity to see it for myself. I’m glad I get to see it with you.”

Ava settled back against the wall of the swamp-house, the warm morning sun shining over her face. It had been so long since she hadn’t felt rushed off her feet, since she could feel peaceful and simply exist in the moment. Memories stirred inside her, and she looked over at Hotlongs with a twinge of emotion in her stomach. Hotlongs, whose back was half-turned to her, didn’t notice at first. Then, at the silence, he twisted around and raised his eyebrows at her. “What is it?”

“It’s been over a year.”

“It certainly has. I’ve missed you, Ava.”

A lump in her throat caught Ava’s breath. “I’ve missed you too.”

“I thought the paladins would kill you.” His brow creased at the memory. “Or have you sent to the quarry up at Rebirth.”

“I got away.” It had been the single most terrifying moment of Ava’s life, running across the dusty plain, knowing that the paladins would be after her, knowing that all she had to do was get to the Hub and she would be safe from them. She’d hidden from paladins, from bandits, from wild and ravenous bonedogs. The Hub had only been the next town over, but it might as well have been halfway across the continent. She shivered. “Just about. Why aren’t _you_ in the Holy Nation, anyway?”

“Guess who stopped being a Holy Servant.”

Ava had guessed as much. “How did you get through Okran’s Shield?”

“I didn’t. I took a hike through the Iron Valleys.”

“Narko’s tits! The _Iron Valleys_?” The Iron Valleys were an expanse sprawl of rocky, acidic plain that was in a constant state of storm and darkness. Humans didn’t go there, couldn’t _survive_ there in the acidic rain that burnt away skin at the slightest touch. In the darkness, it was easy to fall off a cliff, or walk straight into a vicious broken machine from times long past. Unsurprisingly, the Holy Nation taught that it was Narko’s stronghold, and a place no Holy Citizen should ever want to go. “I can’t believe you went to the _Iron Valleys_. How do you still have all your limbs?”

“I might have stolen one or two things,” said Hotlongs. “From somebody who won’t miss them.”

Ava looked at him. He’d evidently shed his acidic rain protection in favour of something a little more suited to the desert climate. He was wearing a slightly stained vest and a pair of hessian trousers. He’d been wearing sandals for his walk across the sands, but he’d taken them off, and his bare feet were flexed against the sea breeze. “And… and what have you been doing since then?”

“Travelling the United Cities mostly. I’ve been spending a lot of time in Heft. And then I thought I’d come up here, to Bark. See what was here.”

Ava laughed. “Not a lot.”

“But _you_ were here.”

“I guess so.” Bark was a small town – none of the settlements were especially large – but with Ava and her friends banned from the town’s only inn, the odds that they would run into one another hadn’t been especially favourable. “Well, what were the chances?”

“I’m just glad I found you. We’ve got so much catching up to do.” His eyes twinkled. “So what heresy have _you_ been getting up to? I heard something last night about ancient forbidden knowledge?”

Ava hesitated. He’d been part of the family ever since her father had been told to take on a male apprentice, since women were supposed to get married and stay in the house and not engage too much in trades. She’d been fifteen. He’d been thirteen and the son of poor farmers. Her father had trusted him, because he’d taught Hotlongs some of the secrets he’d learned from the forbidden book under the floorboards. On the other hand, Hotlongs had never been made fully aware of her father’s final mission; finding books, learning from them, using them to make life better for those around him, teaching the next generation so the knowledge would no longer be lost. “I want to continue what my father started.”

Hotlongs did not seem surprised as Ava told him the full story. “I always wondered if he had an end game. I guess now I know for sure.”

“Did he inspire you too?” Ava said. “To go up to World’s End?”

“I suppose in a sense.” Hotlongs scratched the back of his neck. “I know we briefly talked about this yesterday, but… I’d really like you to come with me, Ava.”

An involuntary grin stretched itself across Ava’s features. “I’d love to. But… what about the others?”

“What about them? I thought this was about you, Ava.” He smiled at her. “There’s nothing to stop you using this place as a base. But… do you really want a pair of Shek smashing everything up and potentially destroying those books without realising?”

“They won’t,” Ava said, but Hotlongs seized onto the uncertainty in her voice.

“Leave them here to take care of the house. After all, the world is full of opportunists. If they see a house unattended, bam, that’s your stuff gone.”

“What about Kat?”

“The Scorchlander with the swamp-town accent? I haven’t seen her carry a weapon. Can she fight?”

“Not well.”

“In that case, I’d suggest leaving her behind. But I can fight. I can certainly protect you, Ava. And you have your doctor’s skills. I reckon we could make pretty good progress up to World’s End, see if the University will share their maps and go northwards. I’ve heard the northern parts used to be strongholds of ancient knowledge.”

Ava’s head was spinning. “I need to think about it.”

“Of course.” He raised his hands. “I just… Now that I’ve found you, it seems the perfect opportunity for us to work together. For your father. I’m sure he’d have loved to see this.”

“I _know_ he would.” Ava smiled. Hotlongs stood up, sliding his feet into his sandals.

“I was hoping to set out in a couple of days. I have most of my supplies in here.” He tapped his backpack. “Right, I’m going to the bar. Heard you were banned from there recently, so get one of the guards to take a message if you need me. And think on it, yeah?”

“I’ll think on it,” Ava promised.

She watched Hotlongs disappear around the corner and laid her head against the wall, chewing her lip, thinking on it. This was an opportunity. It was almost like Okran himself had sent Hotlongs to her. Maybe it was a sign that the god approved of what they were doing. She’d always worried about that. Her father had said that the Holy Nation did not worship Okran in a way that made full use of the talents Okran had bestowed upon humans, but Ava, who had learned something quite different from the paladins, had been conflicted. She remembered praying for some sign that she was doing the right thing, that she was of Okran and not of Narko. She’d been scared for so long of giving into the darkness that was set to be in women’s hearts, asking herself if she was set on the wrong path.

Of course, now she’d upset Okran’s main followers and befriended not one, but _two_ of “Narko’s beasts”, it was a little late to change course if she was.

She wiped her goggles on the hem of her shirt, and thought some more.

Rei. Rei was technically her patient. She also knew that both Ruka and Kat were set on getting revenge for her. Ava wasn’t going to pretend the thought of assassinating a noble didn’t make her extremely nauseous, but at the same time, she remembered the rage she’d felt when she’d smelled the lavender on the unconscious slave girl’s skin. The wrenching compassion that had gone through her like a knife at the sight of Rei huddled next to Ruka, her face streaked with tears. She remembered Ruka’s expression as she’d told Ava the girl had nearly thrown herself off the roof to avoid an enemy only she had been able to see.

Ava couldn’t just leave her.

 _Kat will look after her_ , the selfish side of her brain said.

Ava was usually good at ignoring the selfish side, and it would quieten down after a bit in a sulk. But this time, the selfish side wasn’t ignoring her back.

Ava remembered her father, lying in a pool of his own blood as the paladins rushed them. She remembered running, sobbing, almost falling over her own feet as her path was blurred with tears. When she’d reached the Hub, she had collapsed, exhausted. Slavemongers had been passing through the ruined town that day, and she’d glared at them, too weak to fight them off but strong enough to tightly grip the handle of her katana. They’d left her alone, evidently wanting to take their captives without a fight, and so the sun had set with Ava being an outlaw, rather than a slave.

Given that it could so easily have been her shackled and running desperately into the wilderness in search of freedom, Ava had felt it her duty to help those two escaped slaves. She still felt responsible for them.

But her father…

She wondered what her father would say if he was standing in front of her now, but her mind drew blanks. Maybe she should talk to the others before making any decisions. And especially to Ruka.

_Ruka…_

Ruka’s mood hadn’t escaped Ava’s notice. She hadn’t exactly looked thrilled by Hotlongs’ arrival, and maybe that was to be expected; the Shek Kingdom and the Holy Nation had been at war for generations, making them natural enemies. Still, she was harbouring what seemed to be a disproportionate amount of hostility. She would not be happy at Ava going off with Hotlongs, even if Ava intended to return to Bark.

She went back to the house to find Kat and Rei playing with the new puppy outside. So far, Scrap had been far less of an issue than Ava had been anticipating. He stayed outside, he’d hardly barked at all last night, and Kat and Rei were clearly devoted to him. They fed him on scraps of food and bits of meat they’d bought from the farm shop butcher. The expenses weren’t too high, and they might make a guard dog of Scrap yet. The main trouble he had caused was running amok on Lady Sanda’s island, but Kat and Rei had allowed no further opportunity for such mischief-making.

Ava pushed open the door and went inside. Ruka was sharpening her sword in the corner. There was a large pile of wooden splinters on the floor where a sword had been dug into it. Ava was beginning to think it wasn’t worth trying to replace the floorboards anymore.

“Hi.” She took a cup to the sink. The water pressure in the sink was always very low, and the tap, which was connected to a small water barrel, was so rusted she could barely turn it. In the end she gave up and took some water straight from the barrel instead. “You doing OK?”

Ruka did not reply. She was focusing intently on the blade as if her life depended on it.

“Can we talk?”

“About your Holy Nation man? Eloping with him, are you?”

“ _Ruka_.”

“Is that what you’ve come to discuss? You’re fucking off and leaving the rest of us?”

Ava sipped water nervously. “Look… this is a thing I’ve wanted to do since I was six years old. And with Hotlongs now here, it feels like… this is the right time to go.”

“And you aren’t inviting us?”

Ava didn’t reply. Ruka dropped the whetstone with a thud. “Oh, I get it. Your friend doesn’t like Shek. Typical Holy Nation. Does he even like women or is he just pretending?”

“That’s not fair. He’s not like other Holy Citizens. He’s helping me find _heretical books_ , for fuck’s sake. Also,” Ava burst out passionately, “you can’t just say _Typical Holy Nation_. That’s my nation too.”

“I’ll say what I want!” Ruka rose to her feet. “What happened to you _denouncing_ your own citizenship? Saying you hated them all and they could all be purged in fire for all you cared? And now you’re tossing us aside like toys you no longer want all so you can go off with your _pure-blooded, Greenlander human_.”

Ava flinched. “That isn’t… He’s my oldest friend. This is _my dream_ , Ruka. And he wants to help me.”

“He wants you for himself, more like.”

“Why are you being like this? We aren’t leaving permanently.”

“You’ll probably get eaten by fucking cannibals on the way there,” Ruka snapped. “All over some books. It’s suicide.”

“You used to _support_ me on this.”

“Because we were _both_ going to go! You know I’m a better fighter than he is, but you’re too wrapped up in your honeymoon plans to see sense!”

Ava’s hand was shaking around her cup. “I’m sorry.”

Ruka was clearly not a mood to accept the apology. “And I’m sick of you acquiring people without even consulting me. _Oh Ruka, look at those two over there_. _Oh Ruka, we’d better keep the puppy even though you hate dogs. Oh Ruka, let me just run off real quick with this guy I know who conveniently turned up in town._ You never asked me if _I_ was OK with it. Do you think you’re above me or something? Because I can tell _you_ , Miss Holy Nation…”

Ava threw the contents of the cup into Ruka’s face. She hadn’t intended to, but her muscles had been twitching enough, and it had felt like a small push further.

“You’re a fucking bitch!” she shouted. “You don’t consult _me_ before you pull the plug on our savings – which are largely _my_ savings, by the way. Destroying the floor, having to be bailed out of jail, drinking away half our earnings. Maybe if you acted more responsibly…”

She stopped, the adrenaline suddenly deserting her. She dropped the now-empty cup on the floor, turned and ran out of the storm-house, slamming the door behind her.

“Ava!” a familiar voice yelled. Ava heard footsteps in the sand behind her, and spun around, seeing a blurry Shek in front of her. She blinked the tears from her eyes and realised it was not Ruka, but Rei.

“Are you OK?” Rei said in a small voice, as if expecting Ava to snap at her.

Ava wrapped her arms around her chest, as if trying to comfort herself. She felt hollow, like she’d cave right in if she hugged herself too tightly. “I think,” she said heavily, “that I have a message I need to take to the bar.”

 

* * *

 

 

“Ruka?” Kat said tentatively.

“Hey, Kat.” Ruka was sitting cross-legged on her bed, her back turned to Kat, staring at the wall. Relieved she hadn’t been instantly told to go away, Kat climbed onto the bed and sat opposite Ruka. She was shocked to see that Ruka’s eyes were slightly reddened. Ruka, _crying_? She decided it was safest to not mention it. “So. I guess you’ve heard our ugly sides.”

From the sounds of things, tensions had been brewing for a long time. But there was something unspoken in Ruka’s words. Kat blinked. She’d _thought_ she’d sensed it earlier, but now she was pretty damn sure.

 _Of fucking course_.

She was amazed she hadn’t noticed it earlier, as Ruka wasn’t exactly subtle. Challenging any man who flirted with Ava to an honour duel? Spending most of her time in Ava’s company, agreeing to potentially aid her with collecting old science books even though she herself had no interest in them? And now this… whatever _this_ was. She looked at Ruka, her lips parted and her eyes wide, and she knew Ruka knew that she knew.

For a long time neither of them said anything. Then Ruka looked away and muttered, “Well, fuck.”

“You love her.” Kat had to say it, just to be sure.

Ruka groaned. “Does she know?”

“I doubt it.” Kat marvelled at the pair’s complete ineptitude. Ava was smart, but had almost certainly missed all the signs. Ruka was… brusque and straightforward. Kat was almost surprised she hadn’t simply come out with it.

“She can’t know. Don’t tell her.”

“I won’t. But maybe you should.”

“ _No_. Even if she doesn’t freak out, it’ll completely change our friendship. I don’t want to lose what we have.”

Kat thought about the argument, and how set on leaving Ava probably was now. Ruka was already in danger of losing what she had, but she didn’t say it.

“I didn’t realise you were…”

“Gay?” Ruka barked a laugh. “Was that not _really fucking obvious_?”

“Um. I thought it was just a Shek thing. Does Ava know that much?”

“Don’t think so. She knew I was in a relationship before…” Ruka reached a hand to her horns. “But we never spoke about it.”

“Oh.” Kat picked at a loose thread on the bed. Ruka rubbed at her temples.

“I never meant to sound so controlling. She can do what she wants, I know that and I respect her wishes… I just… I really don’t trust him. And maybe it’s jealousy, or maybe my intuition’s actually correct for once.  But… why’s he trying to separate her from her friends? If he was happy for us all to come along with her and if he didn’t give me such bad vibes, I… I wouldn’t be happy, but I’d try to get along with him. For Ava’s sake.”

“I know.”

There was more silence. Finally Ruka said, “Thank you.”

“What for?”

“For listening. Just… don’t tell anyone what I’ve just told you. Not Rei, and especially not Ava. Otherwise I swear to Kral, I’ll rip out your spine.”

“Got it.” Kat chuckled.

At that moment Rei came in, accompanied by Hotlongs. She looked like a messenger bracing herself for summary execution. She swallowed, looked at Hotlongs, then at the other two.

“What do you want?” Ruka demanded of Hotlongs.

“Ava has decided she’s coming with me,” Hotlongs said, since Rei did not speak. “She’s rather upset and says she needs the space.”

Kat looked at Rei, who nodded in confirmation. She chewed the inside of her cheek. “Have you tried to talk her out of it?” she asked Hotlongs. “It seems like she’s making a rash decision.”

“I respect Ava and her decision-making. If she wants to come with me, she can.”

Ruka had been sitting on the bed looking horrified. Now, she jumped to her feet. “I’ll talk to her…”

Hotlongs held up a hand. “She doesn’t _want_ you to talk to her. The reason why I’m here is because I’m saying goodbye on her behalf.”

“After a _year_ of knowing her,” Ruka snapped, “she doesn’t even _say goodbye_ to me?”

“I guess you really upset her,” Hotlongs said flatly. “Not that I would expect much else from one of Narko’s darkened children.”

“ _Excuse me_?” Ruka reached for her sword, her eyes blazing with fury, but Hotlongs was already closing the door. For a second Kat saw the light glinting off something small and metallic in his hand. Then the door closed fully, and a moment later they heard the scraping noise of a key.

They were locked in.

 

* * *

 

 

It was not without a great deal of regret that Ava stepped out of the gates of Bark, accompanied by Hotlongs, who had taken it upon himself to say goodbye to the others on her behalf. Her head was so fuzzy with what had happened earlier that she hadn’t even thought of it as anything that odd. She was too busy thinking about Ruka, and if either of them had really meant the things they had said to one another.

Her guts knotted with guilt at using Ruka’s drinking as a weapon against her. What kind of a doctor was she? It had been the garru in the room for a long time, the fact Ruka was struggling. Small wonder she drowned her sorrows in the bottle if Ava was going to be this unsympathetic.

“We’ll need to make good pace,” said Hotlongs, “if we want to get anywhere before the sun goes down.”

They walked on for almost half an hour. Away from Ava’s troubles, away from her life. Her stomach was beginning to churn with the thought of what she had said and what she had just done.

The sun was still rising in the sky, and the temperature was starting to climb. The wind was strong, and Ava could see sand being blown across the plains, but it was still sweltering. She wished she’d brought a hat, as her sunburn never seemed to be more than half-healed, and some of the worst patches on her face were sore and peeling. She rubbed at them unconsciously as they came to a stop.

“Maybe I’ve made a mistake,” she said, as she stared back at Bark. The glinting walls of the town were almost completely out of sight now.

“Hm?” Hotlongs was staring at the map.

“I… I shouldn’t have made a decision like this on such strong emotions.”

She could barely believe she had just upped and left. Bark had been her home for so long, and Ava knew that her sudden departure would have upset her friends. She took a deep breath. Maybe she was making _this_ decision on a whim as well, but this time, it felt like the right one.

“I’m sorry. I – I need more time to think about this. And I know we’ve already set off, and I’m sorry for wasting our time and energy, but maybe… maybe you should go on to World’s End without me.”

“But Ava…”

“No.” Ava felt tears rolling down her stinging face. “I need to go back.”

“If that’s the way you want it.”

There was something in his voice that gave Ava pause. She looked back. There was a hard gleam in Hotlongs’ eyes. Suddenly, she realised that while she may have known him for years, his face was not the same anymore. She backed away, her boots sliding in the desert sand, and he advanced.

“You thought I was really going to take you to World’s End?” he said. “A girl with a twenty thousand-cat bounty on her head?”

“I thought we were friends.”

“ _Friends_?” Hotlong said. “I was sent to keep an _eye_ on you and your heretic of a father.”

Suddenly, Ava could no longer breathe, and it wasn’t just the oppressive heat.

“The High Inquisitor said he would make me an officer if I turned you in. I’ve been looking for you for a year. You think I’d let you slip through my fingers?”

Ava made a break for it. If she could get all the way back to Bark, she could alert the authorities. Her feet pounded in the sand, slipping and sinking. She heard Hotlongs curse as he gave chase. Whilst Ava was light and fast, her boots were slowing her down, and Hotlongs was stronger and of a more athletic build. Nonetheless, she was a good way back to the town before he finally caught up with her.

A heavy body slammed into Ava, tackling her. She fell to the ground with a thud, the breath knocked completely out of her. In the distance she could see moving shapes that might have been samurai, but they were too far away to call over, and besides, she could barely speak.

Hotlongs grabbed her rusty katana from its sheath and grabbed her braid, forcing her head up and pressing the blade against her throat.

“I never thought I’d say this,” he said breathlessly, “but you should have listened to the darkened one.”

 

* * *

 

 

For a few seconds after the door locked there was a stunned silence. Ruka braced herself for the smell of fuel or smoke, but after a few moments passed and there was nothing, she concluded that Hotlongs had gone. She ran up the stairs to the roof and looked out. Hotlongs was almost out of sight, his long legs disappearing around the side of the bar to where Ava would be waiting.

“Fuck,” Ruka said out loud. The smarmy Holy Nation _bastard_. He’d bought himself time. Most likely, he wouldn’t pass by the house again. That meant they had to be going out of the south gate.

She hurtled back downstairs, grabbing her recently-sharpened sword and shoving it into the scabbard on her back. The sword was crying out for blood. It had not tasted any in some time.

“Can we shout to her?” Rei said.

“They won’t hear us.” Ruka had already seen the state of the wind, which was blowing towards them from across the sea, throwing words into the void. It would not work in their favour. “We’ll just have to bust out.”

With two Shek in the room, the best escape strategy was to break the door down. Ruka pressed her body against the door, the short horn on her shoulder gouging into the wood. Brute-forcing doors in such a way was generally ill-advised for various reasons, but Ruka didn’t have time to use a less efficient strategy. “Come on!”

The other two hurried to her aid. Rei, who was more cautious about her horns, pushed her hands and her hardened head against the door. Kat assumed the same position as Ruka.

After a few minutes of painful effort and creaking from the door hinges, Ruka slammed her body into the door, which came crashing down. She nearly fell down the steps after it, but Kat grabbed her and helped her regain her balance. “Fuck.”

Rei’s eyes were wide. “Ruka, your shoulder…”

Ruka pressed her hand against the hard bone of her upper bicep. Her horn, which fused the circular plates together, had completely snapped off in the door, and the skin under it was bleeding. The pain was not dissimilar to having a tooth pulled out. Kat, who knew little about Shek physiology, winced, but seeing Ruka’s pain began to look more concerned.

“It’ll be fine,” Ruka said through gritted teeth. “Come on, let’s go. I don’t know what that guy is planning, but it’s going to be nothing good. We need to find Ava before we lose them both.”

 

* * *

 

Ava struggled uselessly as Hotlongs pushed her down into the sand. She could still feel the blade of the katana against her skin, and she knew that no matter how rusted and blunt it was, it didn’t stop him gutting her like a fish. The only comfort was that the Holy Nation wanted her alive.

On second thoughts, that wasn’t much of a comfort.

Hotlongs had taken off his backpack. He pulled Ava up by her hair, forcing the straps over her shoulders. It was heavy. He pulled a length of fibrous rope out of it and bound her hands, stopping her from removing the weight on her shoulders.

“I’m not having you running again.” He yanked to her feet, holding the end of the rope. “Move.”

“You double-crossing bastard,” Ava seethed, feeling the rope cut into her wrists. “Tying me up in the desert with a weight on my back? We’ll both get killed.”

“If that is Okran’s will. Now _move_.”

Ava couldn’t believe she’d been so stupid. She stumbled along behind Hotlongs, the knots getting tighter every time he pulled. They would have to stop at some point if they were going all the way to Blister Hill, and certainly if they were going back to Stack. But while they were on the move, there was no way her fingers could even _reach_ the knots, let alone undo them. She eyed her katana, which was attached to Hotlongs’ belt. If she could somehow get to it without cutting herself on the blade…

But Hotlongs moved too quickly for Ava, and it was a struggle just to keep up. Cursing herself and her own idiocy, she hurried along behind him, hoping one of the patrolling groups of samurai would see she’d been kidnapped and rush to her aid.

“Hey! Stop right there!”

Hotlongs and Ava turned to see Kat appearing from behind a sand dune, her face contorted with anger. Ava heard Hotlongs chuckle at the tiny, defenceless Scorchlander, but his chuckle quickly stopped when he saw the two Shek were behind her.

“Looks like you’ve stolen our friend,” Rei said. “We want her back.”

Hotlongs shoved Ava to the floor. Her backpack kept her pinned like an upturned beetle. All she could do was watch as the three people she had abandoned set upon Hotlongs with a tide of fury.

It was barely enough, Ava realised with a sinking sensation. Hotlongs hadn’t been joking when he’d said he could fight. He was dodging most of the blows from Rei’s fragment axe, and Ruka…

Ava twisted her head, her eyes straining to see Ruka. It didn’t take an expert to see that she was not fighting well. Her stance indicated she was injured, but there was something else… Her teeth were bared and her attack style was frenzied. Her precision was completely off, and she kept missing the Holy Servant altogether.

 _I’ve got to help her_.

Kat darted around Hotlongs and dropped to her knees beside Ava, trying to unpick the knots.

“Check the bag,” Ava said, her teeth chattering, “there may be something in there.”

Kat delved into the bag and brought out a small survival knife. “Hold still,” she said, and started to saw away at Ava’s ropes.

Realising what she was doing, Hotlongs swung around, the flat of his cleaver going straight into Kat’s head. She didn’t scream; she simply dropped.

“ _Kat_!”

Ava scrabbled for the knife, but Hotlongs kicked her hands away. The knife disappeared into the sand. She watched desperately as Rei and Ruka faced off against him. He was parrying their blows like an expert swordsman. It occurred to Ava that he had lied about being a Holy Servant. How would he have learned to fight like that, if not for the Inquisitor?

“Darkened beasts,” Hotlongs snarled.

His next hit brought Rei to her knees. The cleaver had caught her across the leg, and she folded, unable to stand any more. Ruka was advancing, the anger etched on her face.

With a tremendous effort, Ava rolled onto her stomach. The backpack slid to one side, threatening to unbalance her, but she gritted her teeth and pushed herself up onto hands and knees. _The katana…_

“You don’t fucking get to mess with Ava.” Ruka spat blood out of her mouth. “Or any of my other friends, for that matter.”

Their swords collided in a clang of sun-heated metal. Ruka was breathing heavily, but so was Hotlongs; with just one of him, he’d had to move far more than his two opponents, and Ava sensed he was getting tired.

_But will he tire quickly enough?_

Hotlongs pulled his sword back, violently enough that Ruka stumbled. She gasped as the blade hit her face. Ava gasped too. Hotlongs, realising he was too close, pulled back and went for the kill. Ava couldn’t look away. Ruka was in no position to swing her blade, and from the way her right shoulder was hunched, she was really feeling the strain from her wounds.

The cleaver went straight over Ruka’s head. If she hadn’t moved, it would have decapitated her. She dropped her sword in the sand, rivulets of blood running down the blade and sinking into the dust. Ava knew what this meant. She had lost the fight.

Ruka had lost fights before, usually when hopelessly outnumbered. But ever since they’d met, this was the first time Ava had not been able to help her.

Hotlongs laughed as Ruka fell to her knees. “Let’s hope you’re reborn in light this time, sister.” He raised the cleaver, his face raised towards the sun, his eyes closed as if in prayer.

“ _No_!” screamed Ava.

There was a sudden silence, and a body thudded to the floor.

Even if the bag had not been strapped to her back, Ava would have been unable to move. Her head spun. She felt the blood rushing to her toes. A shadow fell over her and she looked up, her vision blurring.

Ruka was standing above her, covered in blood. In her hand she held a katana, its rusted blade also covered in blood. It was the katana that had been on Hotlongs’ belt. She was staring at Ava with an unreadable emotion in her eyes. “You need to start looking after this sword,” she said in a faraway voice, then fainted.

Hotlongs… He was lying motionless on the ground, a rapidly growing pool of blood surrounding him. Her hands trembling, Ava reached for the katana and awkwardly cut her ropes away. Ruka, who had come to on the sand, was groaning quietly.

She quickly assessed the situation. _Triage_ , her father had called it. Hotlongs was obviously the most in need of medical attention, but she wasn’t sure about the other three. She pulled the backpack off and searched inside. There was at least one high quality first aid kit in there, the sort with good bandages and various vials which could be used to flush the sand out of any wounds. There was also a splint kit in there. Ava grabbed all the things she thought might be of use and hurried to Ruka’s side.

“No, do the others…” Ruka whispered.

Kat had been knocked out cold, but she was not bleeding, and she was slowly regaining consciousness. Rei’s leg, on the other hand, was bleeding badly. She knelt beside it and began to bandage as tightly as she could, then splinted the leg.

“Stay with Kat,” she ordered, then ran back to Ruka.

Ruka looked a mess. The bony plate of her brow had saved her eye, but there was a deep cut down her cheek. Her shoulder was bleeding profusely and her lip was split. Ava winced at the sight of her shoulder. The horn was missing, the circular bone plates had completely separated and a fragment had broken off thanks to Ruka’s exertions. _Of course_. Rei managed to injure herself and Ruka had to one-up her… She put the arm in a sling and prayed the injury was healable.

What about Hotlongs? Her doctor’s conscience nudged at her. In the end she bandaged his wounds and left him. Maybe he would wake up before a skimmer got him. Maybe some manhunters would come along and pick him up. She decided _not_ to voice that thought to Kat and Rei, though privately she thought slavery was more than he deserved.

They limped back to Bark, which thankfully was not far away, and a passing group of peasants agreed to accompany them to the town in exchange for a small amount of money. Ava had no idea how to go about apologising to any of them.

They arrived back at the storm-house. Ava saw the door was completely off its hinges.

“What happened?” she said.

“The bastard locked us in.” Ruefully Ruka added, “Sorry for pulling the plug on your savings again.”

Ava was increasingly regretting the things she’d said. “No.” She stepped over the door and helped Ruka across the threshold. “I’m very glad you did.”

It was a subdued atmosphere that evening. Rei sat with her injured leg propped up on blankets, keeping a watchful eye on Kat, who was still slightly out of it. Ava and Ruka sat together on Ruka’s bed as Ava picked fragments of bone out of her shoulder with tweezers. Nobody spoke. Ava realised they were waiting for her to make the first move.

“I’m sorry.” The words felt entirely insufficient. “I should have listened to you, Ruka.”

“Hey, it’s fine,” Ruka said quietly. “If he hadn’t been Holy Nation and…” She trailed off, blushing, and tried again. “I’d have been taken in by him too. Besides, he was supposed to be your friend, right?”

“Yeah,” Ava said bitterly.

“And we trust our friends, right? Even if they make the wrong call.”

“I guess so.”

“So you had no reason not to trust him. And after our argument… I guess I don’t blame you for getting mad and storming off. I think he was hoping you would do that.”

Ava looked over at Kat and Rei, who had drifted off on each other’s shoulders. Suddenly she felt both very old and very young. “Well,” she said, “I guess being an adult doesn’t mean being more sensible. We seem to make just as many fuckups as teenagers do.”

In spite of everything, Ruka chuckled.

“I think we make more.”


	6. Cake

“Let’s see how it’s healing,” Ava said.

Ruka grimaced; she had not been looking forward to this. Ava helped her with the sling as she one-handedly tugged the shirt off her head. As Ava removed the bandage, her face twisted slightly to one side. It was not an expression Ruka wanted to see on the face of her doctor.

“That bad, huh?” She turned to look, but the bony plates obscured part of her view. Ava took hold of her bicep, which would have made Ruka blush in any other context, and inspected the wound closely. “Let me guess. Another week of no fighting.”

“It could be much longer than that.” Ava was looking grim. She reached for a clean bandage and started to wrap the injury. “The bone plates are still cracking apart now there’s no horn there to fuse them together. Your shoulder might end up permanently hunched if we can’t fix it.”

“Of all the ways to injure myself,” Ruka muttered, “I injured myself on a door.”

“Fighting with that giant sword of yours didn’t do it any favours.” But Ava’s eyes were downcast and she wasn’t using the telling-off-a-patient voice she usually used with Ruka. “This is my fault.”

“Hey.” Ruka shrugged her good shoulder. “Worth it.”

Ava helped her put her shirt back on and re-tied the sling. “I don’t want to see you using this arm at all. Keeping it still and hoping it heals is the only chance you have at regaining full function.”

“It’ll still affect my fighting, right? Will I have to switch weapon?” Ruka couldn’t imagine wielding anything less than a fifteen-kilogram chunk of iron. She’d been training with heavies for eighteen years, and she knew she wasn’t agile enough for some of the lighter swords out there. “I’m not going to have to start using a katana, am I?” she said despondently.

“I _mean_ ,” Ava said in an attempt at light-heartedness, “in fairness, you did know exactly where to stick that blade.”

Ruka didn’t reply. So much for big brave heroism. She had allowed her desperation to save Ava to get the better of her and had, for the first time in her life, fought dirty. Her honour was almost entirely in shreds by this point.

“Well,” Ava said awkwardly, “I’ll see if I can find a Shek physician to look at this. I can’t claim to be an expert in Shek anatomy.”

Kat caught Ruka’s eye across the room, the corners of her mouth twitching. Ruka glared at her. Ava, who was sweeping spare bandages into her bag, missed the exchange entirely.

“Maybe you should check up on Kat,” Ruka said. Vengeance was sweet.

Kat had seemed to be doing OK, but Ava was still worried about her. Scorchlander eyes didn’t dilate in quite the same way as Greenlander eyes, making ongoing damage difficult to check for. Once again, Ava’s narrow experience of past patients – who had mostly been Greenlander men – was limiting her.

Rei was the only one out of the three who had presented with a relatively straightforward injury. A little time and some bed rest was all that was needed. To say Rei had been unhappy with the arrangement was an understatement. She had pleaded with Ava to at least allow Scrap into the house to sit with her. Ava, who’d seen first-hand the positive effect the puppy had on her, had reluctantly agreed to let her move her sleeping mat upstairs, and keep the puppy on the roof. Ruka couldn’t deny she was relieved about that. Scrap was slowly growing on her, but he was still a bonedog.

In all honesty, the person Ruka was most worried about was Ava. She hadn’t been the same since the events of a week ago. Maybe it was Ruka’s imagination – not that she went in for imagination – but Kat and Rei seemed a little colder towards Ava than they’d previously been. Ruka wasn’t sure she could honestly blame them. With Ava’s actions having led to a concussion and an injured leg respectively, it seemed reasonable to be a little salty.

Still, Ava was clearly struggling, and it was affecting her work. A few days ago, while trying to clean out an infection in the wound on Ruka’s cheek, she’d nearly splashed hot sake in Ruka’s eye. Ruka had been somewhat terse about it, and rather than brusquely apologising and getting on with it as was usual, Ava had blinked back tears and nearly dropped the sake.

Ava spent a lot of time out of the house these days, leaving early before anyone awoke. Ruka knew she wanted to be alone, and it wasn’t like Ruka could even act as a bodyguard in her state. Forcing herself to give Ava space was a difficult thing to do, especially when the alternative was recovering in the house with two bored teenagers and a hyperactive bonedog.

One of the few reliefs to Ruka was that Kat treated her just the same as she had before, albeit with slightly more teasing. She’d tried to engage Ruka in girly chats about love, obviously hoping for more details on Ruka’s past relationship, but Ruka would simply change the subject.

Sometimes Ruka simply braved the bonedog and sat up on the roof with Rei for a bit of peace and quiet. She did this now, while Ava, trying to gauge if Kat was struggling with any memory loss, asked her the same list of questions she always asked.

“Where are we?”

“Bark.”

“You still remember your name?”

“What kind of question _is_ that?”

“I’m attempting to ascertain…”

“Wouldn’t I be more likely to forget _your_ name?”

“Just answer the question.”

Ruka was glad to leave them to it.

Rei sat bleary-eyed on the roof, listlessly throwing a piece of rope with a weighty knot tied in one end for Scrap to fetch and bring back. At several points the rope went very close to the edge of the roof, and Scrap nearly went diving over the side.

“Be careful with that,” Ruka said as she sat on the floor.

Rei jumped. “Hi.”

Ruka looked at her. “Have you slept at all?”

“No.”

“Are you in pain?”

“My leg? No, Ava gave – she gave me something for it.”

“Bad dreams, then?” Ruka said sympathetically.

“Yeah. Some different ones. Not – not all the same as before.”

She was fumbling over her words. Ruka gently tugged the rope out of her hand. “Probably best not to throw things around the roof when you’re so tired.”

Rei didn’t have the energy to refuse. Scrap, sensing that playtime was over, came trotting back to Rei. Ruka guided Rei over to the sleeping mat, and Scrap curled up by her head as she lay down. He gave Ruka a soulful look, but Ruka was immune to puppy-dog eyes.

“If you can’t sleep you can at least rest.”

Rei’s eyes were slightly unfocused, her lids occasionally closing. “Ruka,” she mumbled, “can you move slightly to the right? The sun’s in my face.”

Ruka obliged, and spent the next two hours acting as an involuntary sunshade for Rei. At least, she thought dully as Rei dozed, she was making herself useful.

 

* * *

 

Ava sat on the swamp platform, her bare feet dangling over the water. The waves rolled and crashed against the stilts of the jetty, accompanied by the steady _tnk_ of the windmill – responsible for the town’s power supply – off to her left. The days when there was no wind were always annoying, especially in the evenings. They had a battery bank, but it leaked charge so badly it was only occasionally functional when they needed it.

 _Oh, the joys of living in a town and not having enough space for more batteries._ Maybe they should set up their own town somewhere. If they had more people to help manage and guard a base, Ava would definitely be up for it. Find a good spot, preferably out of the desert where things weren’t covered in sand. Maybe start growing vegetables or something. On the other hand, she couldn’t see any of the others being that up for it.

Ava brought her feet up onto the metal deck, hot against the sensitive skin, and hugged her knees. She wasn’t even sure the others were that happy to have her around the place after last week. She didn’t blame them. She could have gotten them all killed. Especially Ruka, who had been struggling to fight with her injured shoulder. She thought, too, about the healing crust of the scar under Ruka’s eye. All Ava’s fault.

As she was sitting there glumly, a shadow fell over her. She looked up, dazzled in the sunlight, expecting to see Ruka or maybe Kat, but instead she found herself looking into the haughty face of Lady Sanda.

Ava hurriedly got to her feet. “My lady,” she said with a curtsey.

She’d been half-hoping to scurry past, but her curtsey couldn’t have been good enough, because Lady Sanda said, “Stay where you are. I don’t want you going anywhere.”

Ava swallowed. Lady Sanda’s guards were looking menacing.

“So we finally meet in person,” Lady Sanda said. The tip of her nose twitched downward in distaste. “The doctor I’ve heard so much about.”

Ava had seen Lady Sanda sweeping about town from time to time. She was a Shek, with shaved-down horns and thin, tight lips. Ava got the feeling Lady Sanda had shaved her horns herself. The nobles of the United Cities saw traditional Shek ways as uncouth and barbaric.

“Yes, my lady.”

“Don’t interrupt,” Lady Sanda snapped, even though there had been a pause in the conversation. “I have to say you’re a bit… _underwhelming_. But no matter.”

Ava lowered her eyes to the burning metal of the swamp platform, quietly seething. Lady Sanda was humming to herself, clearly enjoying the power she held over Ava.

“My house,” she said. “Two o’clock tomorrow. Dress appropriately. Come alone.”

She stalked off, her guards following like tamed bonedogs.

Ava stared after Lady Sanda in shock. What _was_ the lady of the town up to? Was it a trick? A trap?

The only thing she knew was that she couldn’t refuse. She’d seen what happened to people who displeased Lady Sanda. Most of them ended up dead in a prison cage, Lady Sanda’s guards conveniently forgetting to heal them before dumping them there. Some ended up alive, but missing body parts. Ava sat down heavily on the deck, feeling like she was going to pass out.

 _Lady Sanda_ …

When she finally arrived back at the storm-house, it was getting late. Ruka was asleep at the table, a bottle of sake beside her. Rei was evidently still on the roof. Kat was sprawled on her bed mat, reading _The United Weekly_.

“Why _are_ you reading that?” she said, forgetting her troubles for a moment.

“Coz it’s funny.”

“What do you mean, _funny_?” Ava snatched it up and held it to the light. “Ten top tips for troublesome twig men,” she read aloud from the contents page. “High society news: can it ever be fashionable to look like a filthy peasant? Crime rates rising in Sho-Battai: are the Shek responsible? This isn’t _funny_ , this is horrible.”

“But it’s so stupid,” Kat muttered as Ava dropped the periodical onto her bed.

“Stupid or not, they have _so much power_. And you should know that.” Ava slumped onto a stool, rubbing her face. “Lady Sanda has… uh, _invited_ me to her house tomorrow.”

“ _What_?” Kat yelled the word so loudly that Scrap started barking upstairs. Ruka raised her head from the table.

“What’s goin’ on?” she muttered groggily.

Ava grabbed the almost-empty sake bottle from Ruka and took a swig. Rei came clattering down the stairs, as Scrap whined from the roof. Ava wished she had more alcohol.

“Lady Sanda wants me at her house for two o’clock tomorrow,” she explained. “Alone.”

Rei sat down suddenly on the stairs, and not just because her injured leg had given way. “You can’t go,” she said urgently. “Ava, you _can’t_.”

“I _have_ to.”

Rei was looking pale. Kat’s brow was creased. Ruka, slow to catch up, took a few minutes to process what Ava had just said.

“I just don’t know,” groaned Ava, “what she wants.”

“I’ll come with you,” Ruka said.

Ava shook her head, her eyes on Ruka’s wounded arm. There was no way she was bringing Ruka in such a vulnerable position. Besides, Ava wasn’t going to hold Ruka to any decisions she made while she was drunk. “She said to come alone.”

“That sounds bad,” Kat said.

“At least she doesn’t want you or Rei,” Ava pointed out.

Kat shuddered. Her hair was now half an inch long all over, but Rei’s horns would never grow back, and Lady Sanda had already set her sights on them both. “I’m really starting to think we should leave.”

“Me too,” Ava said. “But we can’t. We risk making an enemy of the United Cities if we don’t do what the nobility tells us.”

“They’re already _my_ enemy,” said Rei.

“We all hate them,” Ava said, “but we can’t antagonise them right now.” She sighed. She’d never really apologised to Rei for choosing books over her.

“If I’m not back by midnight tomorrow,” she told the others, “I want you to leave town. Don’t cause any trouble, none of you can take on a patrol of samurai. Just leave quietly, and go to Sho-Battai. Hire bodyguards if you can. If I’ve been delayed, I’ll meet you there. If not… well, it’s probably best you don’t stick around in Bark.”

She looked around the room. Kat and Rei were looking scared. Ruka was looking stunned, a compounded effect of both the news and too much alcohol. Ava smiled bravely. “It’ll be fine. I’m going to bed.”

Kat put her copy of _The United Weekly_ to one side. She’d clearly lost her taste for it. Ava helped Ruka up from the table and into bed. _Drunken idiot_ , she thought to herself, but she wasn’t sure she blamed Ruka. The town was feeling less and less safe with every day that passed, and Ava was beginning to wish she too had spent the evening in a drunken stupor.

She ended up oversleeping, and woke in a panic thinking she was going to be late. But the sun was still not yet at its noonday point. Forcing herself to relax a little, Ava spread her clothes on her bed and stared at them, wondering what would be acceptable for Lady Sanda.

With the exception of the nobility, clothes were not made to be fashionable. Ava owned three shirts and three pairs of trousers, not counting the tatty old vest and ragged pants she slept in. She looked at the spread of clothes worriedly, wishing she knew more about fashion. Eventually she settled on a dark cloth shirt and a pair of cargo pants. Wearing anything armoured, like Kat and Ruka’s leather shirts, was probably a poor choice. She slipped her feet into her trusty boots and regarded her reflection in the shard of broken glass they used as a mirror. She only looked marginally better than the peasants that hung around outside the city gates, hoping for money so they could be let into the town. _I really hope I don’t offend Lady Sanda_.

She fiddled with her hair, which was coming loose from its braid, and dipping her finger into the water barrel, rubbed a smudge of dirt off her face. She’d last bathed two days ago, but she was not sure she had time to immerse herself in the sea and besides, it always left a horrible gritty feeling on her skin. She settled for putting the plug in the sink, and filling half of it with water. It wasn’t a dignified wash, and she hated the thought of wasting so much water, but it would have to do. She knew that Lady Sanda probably used two barrels of water a day just on bathing. _All right for some._

As it neared two o’clock, Ava gave Ruka a poke. Ruka was not pleased at having been woken.

“It’s the middle of the night. Go away.”

“It’s the middle of the day,” Ava informed her, “and I’m about to meet with Lady Sanda.”

“What? Oh, fuck.” Ruka rubbed at her head, grimacing in pain. “If anything happens to you, she’s going on my list.”

“I appreciate it.”

She gave Ruka a hug, hoping this wouldn’t be the last time she ever saw her. “There’s some raw garru meat in the cooler.” The “cooler” was an airtight metal box that sat at the bottom of the water barrel and could be removed with a long metal hook. “Make yourself a fried breakfast or something.”

“Thanks.”

As she walked across the sand to Lady Sanda’s island, she stopped and looked back. Kat and Rei, who were watching anxiously from the roof, waved at her. She waved back and then, feeling like she was walking to her own execution, started walking forward.

Lady Sanda’s guards had been expecting her. They patted her down for weapons, and then parted to let her past. Ava glared at one of them, who had taken the search opportunity to feel her backside through her cargo pants, and walked through the door with her head held high. She could hear some of the men discussing her lewdly.

“They don’t make many girls like _that_ around here.”

“I’d tap it.”

“Oh, shut the fuck up and do your job,” one of the women said.

A slave shut the door and hurried away. Ava looked around the room. It was circular, of course, with various metal dividers hiding parts of it. There were a couple of patterned rugs on the floor and a table at the side of the room.

Lady Sanda was sitting at the table. A waft of lavender from her cologne passed over Ava. It was almost overpowering.

“Take a seat,” she said. It was not an invitation, but Ava decided to take it as one. She settled herself down on a chair, trying to look as though she was summoned to nobles’ houses every day of the week.

“Have some tea,” Lady Sanda ordered.

Ava watched as the noblewoman poured tea into two delicate-looking cups. Unsure of what to do with it – she’d never drunk tea before – she followed Lady Sanda’s example. The tea was burning hot, scalding her tongue and bringing tears to her eyes. She couldn’t understand how anyone could drink something at such an unpleasant temperature. But, knowing that Lady Sanda was probably testing her, she gulped the hot amber liquid down and did not complain.

“Do have some cake,” said Lady Sanda.

She passed Ava a small patterned plate with a large slab of cake on it. Ava wondered what was in it, and where it had come from. It wasn’t like much grew out here in the desert. It wasn’t until she bit into it that she recognised the cloying taste of grey sand berries. They were poisonous in large quantities, but she’d heard the nobles liked them because they elicited a slight high. Ava swallowed the chunk of cake, which was dry and crumbly and stuck to the roof of her mouth. She wanted to drink more tea to wash it down, but something told her to wait until Lady Sanda sipped from her cup.

“So, Ava,” Lady Sanda said pleasantly.

Ava blinked. It was a complete tone change and it immediately set her on guard. What game was Lady Sanda playing now? Even though she’d swallowed the cake by now, she could still feel the last remnants of it clinging to her throat.

“Tell me a little about yourself.”

“My – my lady?”

“I hear many things about you, but none from the garru’s mouth, as it were. So go on. Tell me a little.” She stirred her tea with a delicately crafted spoon.

“Um, well. I’m a doctor, my lady. I’ve been learning my craft since I was young.”

“Younger than you are now?” Lady Sanda said. Ava blushed. Given the average life expectancy of people in this harsh world, she was damn near middle-aged.

“I’m a field medic, too. I’ve treated a lot of urgent injuries in my time.”

“A field medic, you say? Have you been with the United Cities army?”

Ava regretted the choice of words. “No, my lady. Just myself and my travelling companions.”

“Ah, yes. Your travelling companions.” The spoon stirred thoughtfully. Ava could feel sweat at the back of her neck, even though it was perfectly cool inside Lady Sanda’s house. “Remind me who they are again. A Scorchlander girl and two Shek?”

“That’s correct, my lady.”

“The Scorchlander and one of the Shek seem to be recent additions, I notice. However did you _find_ them?”

The back of Ava’s painstakingly selected shirt was now uncomfortably damp. She was glad it was a dark fabric.

“The Shek is my friend’s sister.”

“And the Scorchlander?” Lady Sanda cooed.

“One of _her_ friends.” It was a bad lie, but the only one Ava could think of in time. She prayed to Okran that it would be enough to satisfy Lady Sanda. Why, why oh why hadn’t she anticipated these questions in advance?

“Interesting, very interesting. How delightful, in fact. Delightful.” Lady Sanda’s voice was sickly sweet. “It’s so funny how one of them has a United Cities accent and the other speaks like a typical beast from the south.”

Ava felt her skin pale beneath her sunburn. She’d been rumbled.

“I do hope nothing too terrible happened for them to lose their horns.”

Ava sneaked a look at Lady Sanda’s own horns. Now that she was closer, she could see that the noblewoman’s horns were slightly longer and properly filed at the ends. In fact, the very tips seemed to gleam, as if they had been set with a precious metal. Ruka and Rei looked as though their horns had been hacked at, though Ruka had attempted to neaten hers up.

“Have some more tea. Shall I be mother?”

Ava could do nothing as Lady Sanda poured more tea from the pot. She wasn’t sure she trusted herself to speak anymore. _Did Lady Sanda know everything already, or had she just guessed? Whatever it was, I must have just confirmed it_. She hoped she didn’t look as guilty as sin.

“Perhaps we have exchanged enough pleasantries,” Lady Sanda said.

 _Pleasantries indeed_ , thought Ava. She sucked in a breath and wondered what Lady Sanda was about to say.

“Now, Ava, I think you and I will both agree that crime is a terrible thing. It really upsets the delicate balance the world is already in, at least in these cities. They may be lawless lands out there, but in here, this is my world.” She drank more tea. “Terrorism, assault… you get the picture. They’re bad. Bad for the United Cities, and bad for me.”

The smell of lavender was really getting to Ava. “Yes, my lady.”

“I don’t tolerate terrorism. In fact, I would see to it personally that any terrorist harboured within the walls of my town met a most unpleasant fate. Every time the terrorists strike, whether it’s a single slave freed in the desert or an entire slave camp brought to ruin, it brings the world to an ever greater state of decay. Our economy is already fragile. Why, even _I_ have to make do without quite so many luxuries as I am used to.”

“That sounds terrible, my lady,” Ava said through gritted teeth.

“The point is,” said Lady Sanda, her tone changing yet again, “that I do _not_ like to see former slaves in my town.”

“No, my lady.”

“It offends me. I could of course have them removed…”

Ava’s blood ran cold.

“And that other Shek of yours really is a disgrace to her race. Picking fights, getting thrown out of establishments, being arrested at the end of a night. I really don’t know why you associate with such… lowlifes. But no matter, you seem to care about them. So let us think on this and come to an arrangement that gives us _both_ something we want.”

Ava waited.

“The deal is as follows. As of now, you work for me. You will have the privilege of living in my house, eating with my guards and going shopping occasionally, if I feel like it. You will be paid a little disposable income, and in return, you will serve as my personal medic and surgeon. For as long as this arrangement continues, I shall leave your three friends well alone. They will of course not be permitted to leave the town, but they shall enjoy a degree of security. If they toe the line, none of them will be arrested and none of them will be enslaved again. Are you amenable to this arrangement, _noble doctor_ Ava?”

Ava lowered her head. She knew she had no choice.

“Yes, my lady,” she murmured.

“Excellent,” purred Lady Sanda. “I’m so _glad_ this meeting was to mutual benefit. Now, my servant shall show you the door. Get your personal effects together, and I want to see you back here in an hour.”

The slave guided Ava outside to where the guards were waiting. They patted her down again, presumably to ensure she hadn’t stowed any of Lady Sanda’s ugly pearl cups away in her pockets. Once she’d been frisked, and thankfully not groped this time, she was sent on her way.

 _Fuck_ , was all Ava could think.


	7. Fever

Things were not looking good.

Kat couldn’t count the number of times she’d been trying to carry on as if everything was normal, only to feel like she was back in the slave camp again, helplessly watching Rei dragged from her cage. As annoyed as she’d been at Ava for charging off into the desert and getting herself kidnapped, she could not stop thinking about the doctor. The nobility had done it again, stealing a person away for their own twisted satisfaction.

They’d known Ava was unable to refuse Lady Sanda’s offer; the number of guards patrolling by their house seemed to have doubled, and a heavy threat hung over the little desert town. The knowledge hadn’t stopped Rei from hugging Ava goodbye so tightly Kat had heard the Greenlander’s bones creaking.

Ruka had barely said anything since Ava’s sudden departure. She was sitting huddled on what had once been Ava’s bed, staring at nothingness. She’d insisted she was fine, but Kat was used to her stubbornness by now. There didn’t seem to be a lot to be done or said. Like it as not, they were all prisoners in Bark now, and Ava, trapped in the noble house with that awful woman, definitely had the worst of it.

That night a sandstorm blew up and made the night miserable and covered in grit. Rei brought Scrap just inside, sitting on the rooftop stairs with him. Ruka didn’t even have the energy to argue against it. As Rei cuddled the bonedog, Kat sat on her camp bed and tapped her fingernails on the floor. The rhythm was soothingly distracting.

“Stop doing that,” Rei snapped; she’d been on edge ever since the events of earlier. Kat jumped.

“Sorry,” she said. “I was just trying to think of ways we could get out of this.”

“You got ideas?” Rei said hopefully.

But Kat’s suggestions did not fill Rei with confidence.

“How are we going to do that?” she pointed out, when Kat suggested they find a passing caravan and strap themselves beneath the garru. “Have you _seen_ the way their bodies are? We’d be spotted immediately. Also, garru _stink_.”

“Fine,” Kat said, a little sulkily. “Have you or Ruka got any ideas? Ruka?”

Ruka did not respond.

“Ruka?”

Ruka looked up. Her eyes were slightly glazed and for a second Kat wondered if she was drunk. _No, she can’t be, she’s been sitting in that corner all evening_. “You OK?” she said.

“Yeah.”

Kat hadn’t missed the brief flash of pain that had crossed Ruka’s face. It might have been emotional pain at losing Ava, but Kat suspected it was more. She’d been hungover earlier, of course, but she’d seemingly recovered from that. “Is your shoulder all right?”

“It’s fine.”

She was definitely lying, but Kat didn’t want to argue. And in some ways, she didn’t want to know. Not that she didn’t like Ruka – she did – but without Ava there to help, there was not a whole lot they could do for any complications.

They sat in the storm-house and planned. Scrap, who hadn’t been walked that day owing to everything that had happened, wriggled in Rei’s arms. Rei cursed out Lady Sanda and her guards with every bad word she knew. Kat, born and raised in the swamps and no stranger to profanity, added a few of her own flavoursome expressions to the mix. It made the pair of them feel a little better.

When the storm died down, Kat went out to see if any new security measures had been put in place. She took the opportunity to put Scrap on the lead and bring him with her. All she had to do was make sure she avoided Lady Sanda’s island, which was easier said than done. Scrap kept pulling her in that direction, as if he could smell Ava.

“ _No_ , Scrap.”

She wandered up to the western gate, which was right next to their storm-house. There was no point in being stealthy; her dark skin helped her blend into the night, but her golden Scorchlander eyes still shone like two lamps. The guards looked at her and shook their heads.

“Sorry miss, we’re under orders to cut you down if you go through.”

“Lady Sanda’s orders?” Kat said, knowing full well that they were.

“The very same.” One of them did look apologetic. Kat wondered if that might work in their favour.

She walked around the walls to the southern edge, where a wall had been built out into the sea. It had always been a potential way around, but even in the darkness Kat could see figures moving around. They must have crossbows. Kat considered the potential of swimming out of range and then following the coast for a short distance, but she had no idea of the currents and besides, she wasn’t sure Rei or Ruka would even be able to swim that far.

After allowing Scrap to lift his leg on three different segments of wall, she returned to the house and delivered the bad news.

“Unless we got any better ideas,” Rei said gloomily, drawing her knees to her chest, “it looks like we’re stuck here.”

Ruka got up, stumbling slightly, and fetched herself a glass of water. On the way back she had to lean on the wall for support.

“Ruka, are you sure you’re OK? You don’t look well.”

“Fine.” Ruka’s voice had none of its usual gruffness. Her Shek Kingdom accent, too, was a lot stronger than usual, to the point where she was barely comprehensible. _She’s really not well._ Kat could see the sweat glistening on Ruka’s skin, which was very pale between her bone plates. _Lady Sanda couldn’t have picked a worse time_.

“Take your shirt off,” she said.

Ruka just stared at her. “What?”

“I want to see if the wound’s infected. I know what I’m doing,” Kat said, “sort of. I’ve watched Ava.”

Ruka pulled off her shirt with her good hand. Kat could see it was a struggle; the leather was clinging to her damp skin. She hurried forward to help. Ruka seemed completely unable to move her right shoulder joint, and as Kat started unwrapping the bandage she could tell that it was very swollen and very tender.

The bandage came away. Kat chewed her bottom lip.

“What is it?” Rei came over to see. “Oh. That’s not good.”

“Yeah, it looks like she’s…”

“Excuse me. I’m still here, guys.”

“It’s leaking something dark green,” Kat said as her stomach lurched. “Also smells kind of bad.”

“Well, that’s not supposed to happen.” Ruka reflexively went to clutch at her arm, but Rei caught hold of her wrist.

“It’s infected. If you touch it, it’ll make it worse.”

Kat wasn’t sure how Ruka could possibly make it worse. With the horn no longer there, the rounded bone plate on Ruka’s shoulder had cracked apart, and the smaller bone plates beneath that had also begun to pull apart from one another. An open wound persisted where the horn had been. It hadn’t healed at all. There were smaller wounds between the smaller bone plates, which were covered in a greenish crust of dried pus. The horn wound was still leaking it. _What would Ava do?_

Kat snapped into action.

“We need to clean this out,” she said. “Rei, help me bring the water barrel over here.”

Ruka watched them as they unhooked the water barrel from the sink and dragged it across the floor. “You might find it easier if you take the cooler out first.”

“Oh, yeah.” Kat grabbed the hook and dragged up the metal box, dumping it on the floor. She helped Rei fill all the bowls they owned, and put them on the table. “OK. Um… if we have any sake left, we should probably boil it. If you can get on that, Rei, I’ll go out to the swamp-house. You got the key, Ruka?”

“In the box over there.”

Kat grabbed it and hurried out to the swamp-house. There she found a spare first-aid kit, filled with various things she had no idea how to use. She ran back with it, forgetting to lock the swamp-house in her haste, and threw the key back into the box.

“Are you sure you know what you’re doing?” Ruka said doubtfully, looking at the sake, which was slowly starting to bubble.

“Sort of.”

“That’s comforting,” Ruka muttered, but she didn’t have the strength to argue.

Kat brought a bowl of water over to the bed and set it down. She took a clean piece of cloth from the first aid kit, dipped it in the water, and brought it to the wound. “Right. Um, this is probably going to sting a little.”

“Fuck! Be careful!” Ruka yelped as Kat dabbed at the wound.

“I _am_ being careful.”

“The wound goes deeper than that,” Rei observed. “When the sake boils, I think we should lie Ruka down and pour it straight in.”

Kat looked apologetically at Ruka, who groaned. “I must be out of my mind to let you do this.”

Rei found a strip of leather and gave it to her to bite down on. “This will definitely hurt.”

“Oh no, that hadn’t even occurred to me,” Ruka said sarcastically, lying down on the bed and wedging the leather between her teeth.

Kat brought the pan of sake over.

“Hold her arms down,” she said to Rei, and carefully poured the sake into the wound.

Through tightly clenched teeth, Ruka screamed. Her eyes rolled. Kat saw steam rising up from the wound, and grimly kept pouring. Foul-smelling green fluid ran from between the bone plates and into the bowl Kat had waiting. As she poured, the pus was gradually washed out and the wound began to run clean.

“OK.” Kat set the empty pan down, glad that her grim task was over. “Rei, pass me the clean bandages.”

She wrapped the upper arm as tightly as she dared and bandaged it against Ruka’s side, not trusting her to keep it still otherwise. Ruka had fainted, and even with Rei helping, she was a pretty solid wall of muscle and therefore difficult to move. After one or two wrappings, Kat tied it. It would have to do.

“Let’s just hope,” she said, “that it’s enough.”

 

* * *

 

 

It wasn’t enough.

The infection persisted, having penetrated deeper than the initial wound had suggested. In the morning Rei put the back of her hand against Ruka’s forehead, and felt that she was burning hot. She called out to Kat, who sleepily raised her head from her pillow.

“She’s gotten worse.”

Rubbing sleep from her eyes, Kat went over to Ruka’s bed and pulled up the stool. “Ruka?”

Ruka did not reply. Worried now, Rei slapped her cheek, not hard enough to hurt but enough to rouse the average sleeper. Ruka groaned something but did not open her eyes.

It occurred to Rei that they were well out of their depth.

“We’ve got to get help,” she said. “And the only person I know who might be able to help Ruka…”

“… is Ava,” Kat finished. “But Lady Sanda’s unlikely to let her come back.”

“We won’t know if we don’t ask.” Rei started pacing the room. “We can write a note and hope it gets through Lady Sanda. At the very least, she needs to know.”

“All right.”

It was at this point that they ran into their first hurdle. Neither had a pencil, or indeed any paper to write on.

Rei decided to take matters into her own hands.

“I’ll go there,” she said.

Kat stared at her as if she’d grown an extra head. “But – going to Lady Sanda’s house? Look, _I’ll_ go…”

“No. Stay with Ruka. Find something to cool her down. I think – I think it should be me that goes.”

“Well, if you’re sure,” Kat said doubtfully. “But remember what Lady Sanda said about Scrap.”

“Then I won’t bring him.” Rei turned and hurried from the storm-house before she could change her mind.

She wasn’t sure why she had been quite so adamant. As she crossed the town towards Lady Sanda’s island, every muscle tensed and screamed at her to stop and go back. She wanted to scream at Lady Sanda, yet another case of a noble who thought she could do what she liked at the expense of another living person. Her legs started to shake as she approached, and it wasn’t just from the healing cleaver wound.

“And what do _you_ want?” sneered one of the guards as Rei crossed the little bridge to the island. “Lady Sanda doesn’t want to see the likes of _you_ , and I don’t remember seeing your friend ever being part of the deal. Be off with you.”

Rei swore she could smell lavender on the wind. She froze.

“Well? Go on, move, before _I_ move you.” The guard drew her _nodachi_. Rei could feel her brain short-circuiting as she tried to find the words.

“Our friend Ruka’s ill,” she blurted out. “We’re really worried about her.”

The guard raised her eyebrows. “And… what does that have to do with me, exactly?”

Rei faltered. “At least… please would you pass a message on to her?” She reached into her pocket, pulling out a string of cats. The guard took them with some distaste.

“I’ll pass the message on to my lady, no more. What she chooses to do with it is then up to her.”

Rei nodded. The response was not entirely surprising. “Yes, madam.”

“Now _go_ , before I have you arrested for trespass.”

Rei tried to hold her head high as she walked across the bridge, but the slight _snick_ of a second blade being drawn sent her running. She didn’t stop until she was off the little spit of land and past the swamp platform that formed a kind of rudimentary jetty. After she stopped and caught her breath, it became difficult to move anymore. So she stumbled forward, almost crashing through the newly-repaired door as she tripped on the steps.

Kat, who’d evidently been anticipating Rei’s reaction, had brought down Scrap from the roof. She passed him into Rei’s arms and she buried her face in his fur. He was getting bigger every day, and he seemed to be made of a lot less fur and a lot more bone plating than she remembered, but his fur was as soft as ever. Kat led her over to a stool.

“How you feeling?” she said after a few minutes.

Rei found herself able to lift her head. “I’ll be OK,” she said, her voice hoarse. She tried not to think too much about Lady Sanda’s house. The architecture was identical to Slave Master Haga’s, and it reeked of lavender in much the same way. Or maybe that part had been her imagination. She drew in a shuddering breath, which came as more of a gasp.

“Take your time,” Kat said as Rei went to stand up.

“How long?” said Rei, feeling her legs about to buckle and sitting down hurriedly. “How long do we wait for her?”

Kat looked over at Ruka. Her eyes were closed and she was murmuring feverishly.

“We have no choice _but_ to wait.”

 

* * *

 

The water was cold and smelled of lavender. Ava gasped as she sank into the bathtub, the water lapping at her skin. It felt like a luxury. A _wasteful_ luxury.

She reached for the bar of soap. Soap wasn’t a thing she’d seen since living in the Holy Nation, and that was only because being a doctor, her father had been moderately well-off. As she scrubbed at her skin, she saw layers of dirt coming off in the bathwater. It disgusted and fascinated her at the same time. She’d never thought herself a _dirty_ person, but it was never exactly easy to stay clean in the desert, and she’d hated the feeling of salt and grit from the ocean rubbing beneath her clothes.

The fresh, now-not-so-clean water was far more soothing than the ocean. She dunked her head under the water, preparing for a cold shock, but it was more pleasant than uncomfortable. She’d untied her hair from its braid, and it covered her eyes as she surfaced. Rubbing the water from her face, she started soaping down her hair. She could feel the lavender fragrance embedding itself in her pores.

“Ava!” a commanding voice called.

Ava yelped, the water sloshing around her as she stood up. She had no time to reach for a towel as Lady Sanda stepped around the privacy partition.

“Oh, that’s where you are. One of your friends apparently dropped by earlier.”

Ava stared at Lady Sanda. Lady Sanda glanced at Ava’s hands, which were covering her breasts, and barked a laugh. “Don’t flatter yourself, dear. Yes, your friend’s… ah, _sister_ wanted to let you know that your friend is ill. Sounds serious.”

“Who?” Ava’s first, horrified thought was that Kat’s concussion was worse than she’d realised.

“Ruka.” Lady Sanda’s mouth twisted. “Now get dressed. You’ve been in the bath long enough.”

“My lady!” Ava grabbed the towel, twisting it around herself, and hurried after Lady Sanda. “My lady, please. She’s my friend. I might be able to help her. If it’s serious…”

“Ava, I don’t have time for this.”

“Please, my lady. I’ve been treating her for her wound. If it’s an infection, I may be able to help. My lady…”

Lady Sanda spun around, and Ava suddenly found herself sprawled on the ground. For a confused moment she thought she’d slipped on a wet bit of floor, but then she felt the heat rising on her cheek. She looked up. Lady Sanda grabbed a fistful of her hair and pushed her against the wall.

“You work for _me_ ,” she hissed. “Not your friends. And _I_ am the final authority on what you may and may not do. Do you _understand that_?”

Ava nodded. Lady Sanda released her and she slid against the wall, trying not to sob. Lady Sanda called two of her guards, who had been waiting by the stairs.

“I want you within ten feet of the doctor at all times. No-one so much as _smiles_ at her without my knowledge. Understood?”

“Yes, my lady.”

Ava picked herself up from the ground. She could feel the bruises on her knees where she’d fallen the first time, and her towel had come loose. Trying to dress with two guards leering over her would have been a humiliating experience at the best of times, but thoughts of Ruka kept circling in her head. She longed to be able to help her, but there was nothing she could do.

If she hadn’t been sure of her place before, she certainly was now.

 _I’m so sorry, Ruka_ , she said silently, trying to blink the tears back. _And Okran, please, please let her be all right._

 

* * *

 

 

When sundown arrived and Ava was nowhere to be seen, Kat was forced to conclude that Lady Sanda did not want her going near them. A profound feeling of hopelessness – and helplessness – squeezed at her insides, twisting them just a little. She sat on the stool by Ruka’s bed and looked down at the woman who was usually so full of energy and ferocity.

“You got this,” she said, her voice wavering. “There’s still fights to be had. Things to kill. You’d better not let this get the better of you, because you’re much stronger than this fever is.”

“Stop fussing, Ava,” Ruka mumbled. “I’ll be fine.”

Kat laid another damp cloth over Ruka’s forehead. Her temperature was soaring. “I’ll be fussing for as long as you’re like this.”

Ruka did not reply. She lapsed into incoherence again, mumbling words Kat couldn’t make out. Every now and again she tossed and turned, as if trying to shake off the pain. Kat stuffed the floor cushions between the bed and the wall, hoping it would provide some padding. She was glad she’d had the foresight to strap Ruka’s injured arm.

Rei was sitting on the stairs with Scrap, her eyes shadowed. “What do we do?” she said.

“I don’t know.”

“We can’t just sit by and watch Ruka…”

“No,” Kat interrupted. She did not want Rei to lend voice to their worst fears, especially not with Ruka in the room. “We’ll think of something.”

“Think of what?” Rei said in an agonised whisper. “I don’t think… I don’t think she can fight it on her own. We need a doctor. A proper doctor who knows how to deal with fevers. And if Ava can’t help us…”

“Then we’ll just have to find someone who can. I know.”

Kat thought of Bark and how small it was in comparison to a larger town like Sho-Battai. It wasn’t as if Sho-Battai was _large_ – the population of any town was usually in the hundreds rather than the thousands – but she was pretty sure she knew everyone in Bark by sight by now. None of them were particularly skilled doctors, which explained why Lady Sanda had been so keen to get her bony hands on Ava.

“Maybe there’s somebody in Sho-Battai,” she said. “It’s worth a shot.”

“Wait… you’re _going to Sho-Battai_?” Rei stared at her in disbelief. “There are guards on all the gates and you said it yourself, there are crossbowmen on the walls. You won’t be able to get out without getting shot full of bolts, and if you _do_ somehow escape and they find out, who knows what Lady Sanda’s going to do?”

“I know. But this is an emergency. I’ll swim out and sneak around the southern wall. It’s dark. Nobody will see.” Cutting through Rei’s protests, Kat said, “I know it’s not ideal. But if we want to save Ruka…”

Rei’s eyes filled with tears, but she nodded reluctantly. “We owe everything to her and Ava. I know. But please. Please, Kat, be careful. Don’t take any unnecessary risks. I don’t want to lose all three of you.”

Kat gave her a hug. Scrap licked Kat’s face.

 “I’ll grab supplies from the swamp-house on my way.” She hurried into the darkness before she could change her mind, heading for the sea.

To her surprise, the swamp-house door opened at the lightest touch and she stood, frozen with guilt and shock. Had she forgotten to lock it earlier? She had a horrible feeling she might have done. As she stepped inside and turned on the light, she realised that her carelessness had come at a cost. The place had been burgled. Storage boxes lay open and emptied, and the lid of a chest was half off its hinges. A few items lay scattered on the floor, either too heavy or too much bother for the thief to have taken with them.

Kat swore. If Ava found out about this, she would be furious.

There was no time to try and repair any damage, and alerting the town watch would only draw attention to Kat at a time when she wanted to avoid them. So she cursed the burglar with every breath she had, and grabbed a backpack which had thankfully not been stolen. Into the backpack she shoved whatever she could reasonably carry that might be useful on the way: a first-aid kit, a small pack of rations, a waterskin, a tagelmust for potential sandstorms and for hiding her face from guards who got too near, a couple of strings of cats that had escaped the burglar’s notice, and a lantern. She found an old _jitte_ sitting in one of the larger metal boxes, and took it. It would make a good defensive weapon if she needed one.

Kat knew that Sho-Battai was not as far as the great sweeping desert made it seem, but it was still a long way to travel in a night, and there was always the risk that she would meet unsavoury types in the dark. The desert was full of them.

 _At least I can run fast_ , she told herself. Unlike before, she was well-fed – she could no longer count her ribs in the way she had once been able to – and unshackled. Running in the sand was always difficult, but anyone who wished her harm would be at a similar disadvantage.

Unless it was a skimmer. Their thin, spidery legs moved across the sand like it was solid ground.

Kat gulped. Her resolve faltered for a second.

“No,” she told herself. “I have to.”

Pulling the backpack onto her shoulders, she hurried out of the swamp-house. The waves rolled against the beach, dark and ominous-looking. Kat took a deep breath, and waded into the water.

The sea was _cold_ , cold enough to send the air from Kat’s lungs. She felt her teeth chattering as she sank up to her middle in icy seawater. With the desert night temperatures being as low as they were, she wouldn’t be surprised if the cold got to her before a skimmer did.

Gritting her teeth, she plunged forward, diving beneath the surface of the water. She held her breath and swam, afraid that a crossbow bolt might take her down at any moment. But she passed by the wall unharmed, and swimming a little further out, moved as noiselessly as she could through the water.

Having grown up in the swamps, Kat had spent a good deal of time in and around water. She was still unprepared for the weight of a backpack and the clinginess of her clothes, which hampered her movements. Away from the lights of the town, she could barely see her hand in front of her face, and she knew that if an aggressive wave or current took her unawares, it might smash her into the wall. She swam on, her progress slow and difficult, feeling the weight and the cold drag at her muscles.

 _I’ve got to do this_.

The water enveloped her, tugging her this way and that. At points she nearly went under or lost her way in the darkness, and it was some time before she could be sure she was out past the wall. She swam on, and it was a good fifteen minutes before she finally came to the shore a couple of hundred metres up the coast.

Dry land was a relief, even if the sand stuck to her soaked trousers. Everything felt unpleasantly wet, and Kat realised that her clinging clothes were stopping her moving with quite the same urgency as she had hoped. Her feet squelched in their boots as she began to walk.

The stars sparkled above Kat’s head as she walked. Back in the swamp, there had never been a sky like that; the night was as foggy as the day. But at times, the mists had parted just a little, and Kat’s grandmother had pointed at the skies and taught Kat to recognise the brighter stars.

“See the Sentinels?” she’d said, indicating the large planet and its companion moon. “They always stay in the north-east. All you have to do is look at them, and you can find north from there.”

It was a long walk, but the gleam of the Sentinels lit her path. She picked her way over loose rocks and skirted large and spiky patches of desert diamond. It would have been beautiful, had it not been for thoughts of Ruka and what might be lurking in the dark. She wanted to get the lantern out, but she knew that light carried a long way on nights like this. It would be better to leave it for when she really couldn’t see.

She kept walking, shivering with every step, trying not to remember the last time she’d been alone in the desert. Instead she cast her thoughts back to an earlier time, many months ago now, when she and Longstoat had first set foot in the Great Desert.

“It’s a beautiful place,” Longstoat had said, “but deadly. Never trust the sand you’re walking on.”

Kat looked down at the sand now. She could see nothing in the milky white light, but she was more than aware of the dangers skimmers posed. Urgency quickened her pace, though she tried to move as silently as possible around the sand dunes.

After a while, Kat could see the lights of a camp in the distance. She was careful to avoid it, but she could see figures moving about, and she hoped one of them would not see her. The darkness became her friend as she slipped into the shadow of a sand dune. Past the rudimentary camp, there was nothing to be seen anywhere ahead. Kat felt her shoulders, which had been bunched, relax just a little.

The wind started to blow. Kat quickened her pace, knowing that a sandstorm might be imminent. She grabbed the soggy tagelmust from her backpack and wrapped it around her face, hoping to at least stop the sand from going in her mouth.

It might have been safer to stop and wait for everything to pass, but Kat chose to press on. She didn’t have the luxury of waiting. The wind started whipping up sand, turning the gloomy night into complete darkness. Kat held up the lantern, but the light barely penetrated the volleys of swirling sand. All she could do was pray that she wasn’t about to walk into a skimmer ambush, or worse, more manhunters. She stumbled blindly forward, her feet sliding on loose sand, coughing and choking as the wind blew into her face.

_I have to get there._

The shivering was getting unbearable. The wind was chilling her to the bone, buffeting her with cold gusts of dust and grit. Kat had no way of knowing if she was being turned around by the storm and sent back to Bark, or worse, further out into the wilderness away from civilisation. She hugged herself, longing for warmth, but none was forthcoming. The urge to just lie down and give up came over her, tugging at her tired muscles.

 _If I don’t come back, Lady Sanda will find out what I’ve done._ That was enough to keep Kat going. If Lady Sanda found out, there was a chance she would take it out on Ava, or Rei, or Ruka if she survived somehow. Kat choked back a sob.

“No,” she whispered, her voice lost to the howling wind and her chattering jaw.

She was utterly alone. There were no manhunters, no skimmers, nothing but the wind and the sand and the cold. She tripped over her own feet, falling face-first into the sand, feeling everything ease. Even the uncontrollable shivers seemed to be lessening. The storm continued to rage, but from here on the ground, it felt a little more tolerable.

The lantern flickered and went out as the darkness closed in around her.


	8. Desert

_It is the day of Kral’s Feast._

_The morning is calm and warm, but there is a buzzing energy in the air. They’ve erected a palisade around a square of dirt in the arid plains between Squin and Admag. In those two cities, shops are closed for the day, and the shopkeepers are selling their wares out of enormous trader’s backpacks. Children, their horns not yet fully grown in, run riot, crashing into everyone as they wave tiny versions of their parents’ swords. They get away with too much, but with so many warriors falling in battle, they are the kingdom’s last hope._

_Ruka manages to secure a place right against the palisade. Several people shove against her and she glares at them. It becomes a silent battle of intimidation tactics, but nature has blessed her with long horns and people implicitly assume she must be a mighty warrior._

_Which she is, at least in her opinion. She’s pleased when the others back down and find someone weaker to bully into giving up their place._

_Shager, the King of the Shek, steps into the battle square. Cheers erupt from the crowd. He stops and turns his heel in the dust, the arrogance of a fine warrior on his features. He pulls out his fragment axe and watches his opponent, who has just entered the square._

_“Glory!” shout voices from the crowd at the sight of Esata, the Stone Golem herself. She is one of the Five Invincibles, serving under the King. It is customary for the duels to begin with a fight between the reigning leader and one of his finest warriors. The duels are not binding in any form – for today, in this place on Kral’s Feast, there is no shame in defeat._

_Ruka catches sight of the Stone Golem’s daughter on the other side of the crowd. Seto is nine years old, and Ruka doesn’t doubt she’ll follow in her mother’s footsteps. She already has a plank, specially made for her size, strapped to her back. Her eyes are eager for battle as she presses up against the palisade._

_There is a clash of metal as the two opponents collide. The air rings out with cheers as blood drips into the sand. It is the first bloodshed of the Feast, and it has occurred before mid-morning. It is a good sign._

_The Stone Golem pulls back slightly, a superficial wound on her chest, but renews her attack with unrivalled ferocity. It is a beautiful scene, and Ruka is captivated by the flowing way in which the two duel. The fight will continue until one of them is unconscious, and it is shaping up to be a long fight._

_Finally, to cheers and groans from the audience, the Stone Golem goes down. She is not unconscious for long, but it is enough to lose her the fight. A warrior named Bayan hurries to her aid, bandaging her wounds and helping her, dazed, from the arena. Seto is looking as though she wants to duel King Shager himself, but Bayan shakes his head at her. He puts his hands on the Stone Golem’s shoulders and speaks quietly to her, his eyes never leaving hers._

_Ruka wonders who Seto’s father is. She has her suspicions._

_The opening duel has concluded, and Shager leaves the arena. A young woman enters after him, her eyes gleaming. Ruka can’t take her own eyes off her. Everything about her is beautiful, from her long, perfectly formed horns to the dents in her armour. Ruka has seen her before. Her name is Taura, and she has been known to lead platoons of soldiers into successful battles. Yet she is twenty-one years old, not much older than Ruka._

_Taura grins at the crowd expectantly. She holds herself tall, and is completely unfazed by the initial lack of reaction. Somehow, without thinking about what she is doing, Ruka vaults over the palisade and into the arena._

_There are cheers from the crowd. Watching two young warriors fight is always more fun than two seasoned warriors. Ruka ignores them and pulls out her plank. They circle one another for a moment, each checking her opponent for any sign of weakness in stance, favoured foot, old wounds. Then, as if on a silent agreement, the fight begins in earnest._

_It is the most magical, most exhilarating moment of Ruka’s life so far. She can hear her brothers cheering her on from behind the palisade. The fight is like a dance, a dance of iron and blood and giddiness. Taura’s grinning face whirls in and out of view as they block and weave and parry. Ruka fights as well as she can, but she begins to flag, and Taura seizes the opportunity._

_The next thing Ruka knows, she’s being pulled out of the dust not by a medic, but by Taura. She winks at Ruka, who stares at her stupefied._

_“Damn, you were good,” she murmurs to Ruka, and helps her out of the arena. “I’ll buy you a drink for that fight.”_

_It is to be the first drink of many._

 

* * *

 

Something very rough was scraping at Kat’s skin.

“Leave it, Mio,” a voice commanded.

Kat turned her head in the sand and found herself face to face with a garru’s tongue. The creature let out a lowing sound in response, the lantern attached to its harness swinging low and narrowly missing Kat’s head. She stayed as still as she could, not wanting to spook it.

“Well, I’ll be buggered,” the same voice said. “This one’s alive.”

Kat sat up. Her arms, which were supporting her, felt shaky. She was _covered_ in sand. It had stuck to her clothes, her skin, her short bristly hair. Everything ached and itched and she just wanted to lie back down and go to sleep in the sun.

The _sun_.

It was daytime.

And she had the entirety of a Hiver trading caravan staring down at her.

Kat didn’t have anything against Hivers. She still found them a little creepy, with their beady eyes and bug-like appearance. She coughed sand out of her mouth and struggled to her feet.

“Human!” The voice which had been talking perfectly normally before became a walking stereotype. “Human! Buy lantern! It will save your life against the fog people!”

“I… _how_?”

“Special Hiver magic. Handcrafted by our queen!” The Hiver produced a lantern with a flourish and held it up. “See? Lantern will protect Human.” The way he said _human_ somehow made it sound capitalised. Yours for a low, low price!”

“Thanks, but I already have one.”

“Only two and a half thousand of your cats!” the Hiver said proudly.

Ava had once said the Hiver caravans were scams selling cheap junk for far more than it was really worth. Kat shook her head. “I love it, but I need to save my money. Do you know how to get to Sho-Battai from here?”

The Hiver pointed to a glittering shape in the distance. “We go there!” he said brightly. “We take you!”

“OK…” Kat said suspiciously. “Do I have to pay you or something?” She patted herself down. The string of cats, which was tucked away inside a small pocket, had not been touched, but she had a feeling they’d been rummaging in her bag while she’d been passed out on the sand. Oh well. At least she wasn’t dead or enslaved. Things could have been a lot, lot worse.

“No pay!” the Hiver said. “We like your musk.”

Her head spinning from what had to be the strangest compliment she had ever received, Kat joined on to the back of the caravan. There were two younger Hivers bringing up the rear, and as soon as they realised Kat was on to them they dropped the act and started talking normally.

“Don’t be surprised if Jun took some of your stuff,” one of them said to her.

“He’s sneaky like that,” the other agreed.

“Quite.”

The way they _talked_ was slightly unsettling. Kat had a feeling they knew, more or less, what the other was about to say.

“The desert is dangerous,” said one.

“Many skimmers. And slave-hunters. You were lucky,” said the other.

“Quite.”

It was not long before they came to the gates of Sho-Battai. Kat breathed a long sigh of relief and prayed that she would be able to find a doctor in time.

The guards on the gate, who were red-faced and sweltering in their armour, did not look thrilled to see the caravan.

“If any of you causes trouble…” one of them threatened as they searched the garrus’ backpacks for contraband.

Mio the garru made a snorting noise. The guards allowed them to pass through into the town.

The town was even sandier than Bark had been. At points, Kat felt her boots sink up to the ankles in loose sand. She bade farewell to the Hiver caravan who had helped her and went off in search of a doctor.

“Stop right there! Thief!”

A huge, fat Shek with stubby horns lumbered past Kat, a bottle of cactus rum in each pudgy hand, and disappeared around a corner with a drunken giggle. Looking resigned, the barkeep who had shouted went back inside. “Third time this week. I hope he drinks himself to death.”

Kat hurried into the bar. The barkeep had returned to behind the counter and was bad-temperedly handing a Shek mercenary a drink. “Yes?” he said brusquely as Kat approached.

“Um, I’m sorry to bother you, but I was wondering if you possibly knew…”

“I don’t talk for free. Pay up or shut up. Them’s the rules.”

Kat bought a cup of grog. “I’m looking for a doctor.”

“A doctor? Well, there’s Izumi, if you don’t mind being healed up by a fourteen-year-old.” The barkeep scratched his beard. “And the only other one I know of is Goren. But he keeps to himself, that one. Especially if you’re human.”

Hope flared in Kat’s stomach. “He’s a Shek?”

 “Yeah, but he won’t give you the time of day. He’s one of _those_ Shek. From the Shek Kingdom. Not from around here. Doesn’t like humans very much. I wouldn’t bother if I was you. Go with the kid.”

“Where can I find him?”

“Try the other bar. He goes there every morning for his breakfast. Just don’t buy anything from that barkeep. He’s a twat. Taken most of my regulars.”

“Thanks.” Kat drained her cup and set it on the counter. “Thanks very much.”

“Don’t come crying to me if he’s rude to you!” called the barkeep after her as she left.

The other bar was almost empty. A large amount of sand had piled up under the steps and had blown in through the open door. Kat went in, keeping her eyes open for a Shek doctor.

She found a man meeting that description sitting in the corner of the bar picking at a bowl of _gohan_. She sat down next to him, her stomach feeling like it was going to burst up through her oesophagus. “Um, hi. I…”

“I’m busy,” said the man.

“Are you Goren?”

“I said I’m _busy_.”

Kat swallowed. “Please. I’m so sorry to bother you, but… I really need your help.”

Goren grunted. “You see those gums you’re flapping? Stop flapping them. I’m eating and it’s putting me off.”

Kat watched him in silence as he ate. Five minutes, ten minutes passed, with Kat’s glowing Scorchlander eyes taking in every bite Goren took, every little twitch he made. Eventually Goren, who could bear it no longer, groaned and set down his chopsticks. “ _Flatskins_ ,” he said contemptuously, but he looked grudgingly impressed. “Well, at least you’re persistent. What do you want?”

“My friend’s ill.”

“Sorry to hear it. You have my sympathy. Now go away and leave me to eat in peace.”

“She might die.”

“Well, that’s unfortunate, but death is inevitable for all of us.”

“She’s one of your countryfolk.” Goren still had his horns, she noticed. She could only cross her fingers under the table and pray that Goren would not refuse to treat a disgraced warrior. “She was wounded in battle.” Well… that was partly true. The fight with Hotlongs had probably been what had brought on the infection. “Defending a friend of ours.”

“One of my countryfolk, huh? Well, that’s too bad, but not unexpected. I can tell you from experience. Bad things happen when you leave Shager’s lands… or the Stone Golem’s, or whoever’s the leader now.” He returned to his bowl of _gohan_. “Not like living in the Shek Kingdom is much safer.”

“Have you no honour as a doctor?” Kat knew she might be making a terrible mistake by saying it, but she had to try.

Goren, who’d had the bowl to his face as he ate, slowly set it down on the table. “You realise, girl,” he said gruffly, “that doubting the honour of a Shek is the worst thing you can do?”

“Yeah.” Kat snorted. “I’ve seen Ruka duelling people over the smallest of slights.”

“Wait.” Goren sat back on his stool, looking thunderstruck. “ _Ruka_? Ruka of Admag? The little girl who once tried to duel a pigeon with a stick because it looked at her funny?”

It sounded about right. “I think so. She’s not that little anymore.”

“No… of course not. It’s been nearly twenty years since I left.” Goren still sounded stunned. “Ruka in the United Cities… I never would have guessed.”

“Some stuff happened.”

“Yeah. That’s… generally how it works. Where is she? Is she here?”

Kat winced. “In Bark. But I can pay you for your troubles.”

“Save it for later. We’ve wasted enough time as it is,” Goren said, heedless of the fact that he was the one who had wasted a good half hour of Kat’s time. “Well, let’s make haste, if we want to be in time to save your friend.”

There was no wind at all as they left Sho-Battai and began the journey back to Bark. They did not have to climb many sand dunes before Kat saw the glimmering shape of the town in the distance. Past that, she thought she could see the ocean. She took a drink from her waterskin and passed it to Goren.

“Why did you leave the Shek Kingdom?” she said curiously.

“H’mph.” Goren glowered at the sand ahead of them. “There’s little respect for a doctor’s skills down that way. No wonder we’re dying off as a race. No respect for education or knowledge or any skill other than fighting. And maybe making weapons and armour.”

“I see.”

“No you don’t, flatskin. You aren’t one of us. You could never understand.”

Kat shrugged. They kept walking, catching up with another caravan which was wending its way to Bark. They followed the caravan at a slight distance, stepping over the garru dung left in its wake. Kat found herself explaining everything that had happened to her and her friends, finishing up with the tale of how Lady Sanda had essentially imprisoned Ava in her house.

Goren’s face darkened. “Sounds just like Lord Nagata. He’s a complete bastard. Makes you grovel for his forgiveness if you look too poor for his liking.”

“At least you know where you are with him, I guess. Lady Sanda plays all sorts of tricks and mind games.”

“Yeah,” said Goren, “nobles get bored.”

At that moment there were startled yells from the caravan traders and loud haws from the garru. A group of bandits, dressed like peasant farmers, had sprung up from behind a sand dune and were attacking.

The caravan guards leapt into action, the rings of their sabres jangling. Kat and Goren drew their weapons, but the bandits seemed more interested in getting to the contents of the garrus’ backpacks than the two obvious outsiders in their midst. Still, a couple headed straight for them. Goren smacked his heavy blade into the skull of one, sending him flying. “Stay behind me, flatskin,” he ordered, chasing down the other.

The fight was short, and it wasn’t long before the caravan’s attackers were lying dead or dying on the ground. Goren moved among the caravan, offering first aid. A few rebuffed him, but others accepted. Finally he returned to Kat. “You’re not hurt, are you?” he said gruffly.

Kat shook her head.

“Good.”

They kept moving, albeit at a slightly slower pace, as a few of the caravan were limping. Kat itched for them to leave the caravan and move out on their own, but she knew there was safety in numbers. Goren wiped his blade on his shirt and stuck it back in his scabbard.

“Rebel farmers,” he grumbled.

As they drew near to the town, Kat rewrapped her tagelmust. Goren, realising what she was doing, walked in front of her, his muscular frame helping to draw attention away from her. Kat felt her heartbeat quicken when they got to the gates. But the guards had clearly not anticipated her attempting to sneak _in_ to Bark. Their gaze passed over her, assuming she was with the traders, and they let them all go through without comment. They didn’t even bother checking them for smuggled goods, unlike the Hiver caravan. Kat waited until the guards were distracted before she slipped into the storm-house, Goren in her wake.

“I’ve brought someone,” she said breathlessly.

Rei was half-asleep on the floor by Ruka’s bed, Scrap at her feet. She woke up at the sound of Kat’s voice. Scrap, who’d been about to launch himself at Kat, suddenly spotted the stranger behind her. He hung back with his head low, and whined.

Kat saw the look on Rei’s face and felt like the floor had suddenly tilted.

“She’s not… is she…”

“She’s still alive, but… I’m not sure she has long. I’m so glad you came back when you did.”

Goren briskly walked to over to where Ruka was lying, completely silent and still. “Oh, my sweet child,” he breathed as he saw the state her horns were in. “Whatever did they do to you?”

“Hey,” Rei said to Kat as Goren sat by Ruka’s bedside, “do you know who Taura is?”

Kat shook her head.

“Oh, OK. I just wondered,” Rei said a little disappointedly. “She kept muttering it. When she was delirious. She called me that at one point.”

Kat was beginning to get an idea, but she didn’t say anything. That was Ruka’s secret to tell, if or when she wanted to. But that assumed Goren could do something to help her. He was looking grim, and it belatedly occurred to Kat that Ruka might be beyond the help of even the most skilled doctor now.

“Typical flatskin medics,” he said as he inspected Ruka’s wound. “Those bone plates will never set on their own. And as for the infection…”

“We tried to flush it out,” Kat said awkwardly.

“Aye, and you did a good job of it too,” he admitted, “but the infection had already spread by that point. Still, we’ll keep draining the wound, and we’ll get plenty of fluids in her, and I’ve got some medicine that might help her fight it. But – ” and at this he looked serious, “ – she’s basically on a knife edge right now. You, flatskin girl, get some water boiling, sake if you have it. And you, stubby horn girl, bring me a cup of water and then help me with Ruka.”

“He’s _rude_ ,” Rei muttered as she moved past Kat. She was clearly smarting at having been referred to as “stubby horn girl”.

“But he’s helping,” Kat whispered back.

“I know.”

As Kat started boiling the water – they were out of sake – Rei poured a cup of cold water and brought it to Goren.

“Good, good. Now put that down somewhere safe and help me sit her up.”

Even with two strong Shek, Kat could tell lifting Ruka’s deadweight was difficult for them. Goren got onto the bed behind Ruka, supporting her and stopping her from collapsing back on the bed. Ruka’s eyes did not open as Rei gently tilted back her head and pushed the rim of the cup between her lips.

“She’s still able to swallow,” Goren observed. “That’s a good sign. But make sure to give her a little at a time, or she might choke. Flatskin girl, bring us another cup of water – cold water. We need to keep giving her fluids, and then we’ll start her on the medicine.”

For a few minutes Rei gave Ruka sips of water. The water boiled in the pan, but Goren told Kat to leave it to cool a little. As Kat waited, Goren pulled a dark brown bottle from his bag and poured half of its contents into Ruka’s now-empty cup. Then he diluted it with water and gave it a stir with the end of a spoon.

“Be very careful as you give her this,” he told Rei. “It’s much more viscous than the water.”

It took about twenty minutes for the cup of medicine to be emptied. Goren’s expression had not changed since he’d first saw Ruka, and it did not change now. “That might do her some good,” he said, “it tends to increase patients’ strength just enough for them to fight off a bad infection. Of course, it may not be enough, but it won’t do her any harm. Right, the water should have cooled down a bit by now. Bring it over here.”

Kat did so, and Goren indicated Ruka’s shoulder and upper arm.

“This wound is the biggest site of infection,” he explained, “so even though the infection has spread, flushing the entrance wound out will still help. We’ll keep her sitting up, just in case this makes her sick.”

Rei put the now-empty cup down and, at Goren’s direction, held a second bowl immediately under the wound.

“Flatskin girl. I’ll lean her slightly to the side so the water runs in the right direction. Pour it as you did before and try and get it in the bowl rather than all over people’s bare skin. It’s still hot.”

Kat obediently poured the water into the wound. There was a slight hiss of steam. Ruka groaned slightly, but her eyes remained firmly closed. To everyone’s relief, she was not sick. When it was done, Goren re-wrapped the bandage and he and Rei gently laid her on her good side in case she threw up later.

“The medicine isn’t nice,” he said. “If she pulls through, it’ll make her feel terrible for up to a week. But it’s better than the alternative.”

“I don’t know how to thank you,” Kat said, “for what you’ve done.”

“Well.” Goren looked at Ruka. “When she was small, I wanted to take her on as my apprentice. She had the raw intellect to be a doctor, if she worked hard, but she favoured fighting. And her parents wanted yet another stone-headed warrior in the family.” He sighed. “I still think it was a waste, personally.”

“I’ll pay you for your troubles,” Kat said, but Goren shook his head.

“Only if I prove to have been successful. I will not accept payment for a failure.”

That night they took turns keeping watch over Ruka. As it came to Kat’s turn, she thought some of the colour had returned to Ruka’s cheeks. Holding her breath, she reached over and gave Ruka’s good hand a squeeze.

Ruka did not squeeze Kat’s hand back, but her fingers did curl around Kat’s. Kat nearly sobbed. She stroked the stubs of Ruka’s horns, singing quietly to her in the way her own grandmother had sung to Kat when she was ill. Ruka, who was still deeply unconscious, might not have heard the song, but after the events of the last couple of days, it at least brought Kat some comfort.

 

* * *

 

Ava sat dully on the bed, dabbing at her eye with a scrunched-up wad of damp cloth. The red slap mark on her cheek had been the first of many, and her head felt constantly foggy. Her personal guards, who shared a partitioned room with her, never left her side, and they were quickly growing bored of guarding her. Lady Sanda was unfazed by the bruises on her doctor’s face. Her only stipulation to the guards was that they were not allowed to violate her, but they could carry out any other punishments they saw fit. They’d delighted in making unspoken rules, changing them every day and punishing Ava for not following them. Smiling at them, not smiling at them, answering them, not answering them, it made no difference in the end. Lady Sanda seemed to be pleased with the abuse. Ava knew the noblewoman was just itching to break her.

It had been several days and there had still been no news of Ruka. If there had been updates, Lady Sanda had likely blocked them from reaching her. All Ava could do was pray to Okran that Ruka would survive. The guards did not like Ava praying, and if they saw her visibly doing so they would backhand her and send her flying. Ava had no idea if they did so out of hatred for Okran, or if they simply wanted to deny her the last shred of hope she had.

She dropped the wad of cloth on the bed, leaned her head back against the metal partition, and waited. She wasn’t sure what she was waiting for, but simply sitting quietly was the one thing her guards couldn’t use as an excuse to hurt her. They stood stoically at the entrance to the room, acting as if she was beneath their notice. It made a pleasant change from the usual torment.

She did not have long to enjoy it, for a minute later there came the sudden sound of shouting from outside.

“The doctor! Get the doctor!”

Ava’s eyes, which had been half closed, snapped open. She hurriedly got to her feet and squeezed out between her guards to look at the now-open door to the outside. She could hear a great deal of screeching from Lady Sanda, and her heart sank. _Great. I have to heal her._

“I’m not having her brought in there! Those rugs are antique…”

“My lady, where would you have us put her?”

“Fine! Take her inside! _Ava_!” Ava could almost feel the building shake at the sound of Lady Sanda’s voice.

“Yes, my lady?”

“It’s time you actually made yourself useful.”

Before Ava could reply, two bulky figures struggled at the door, trying to pass through. Between them was a third bulky figure, dressed in samurai armour. Ava winced as they trailed blood across the floor.

“Fix her.” Lady Sanda appeared behind them, her face tight and furious, an Eagle’s Cross sniper’s bow slung across her back. She must have been out hunting with some of her guard. Ava knew that, like other nobles, Lady Sanda didn’t care for hunting skimmers. The prey must have put up a good fight.

Ava swallowed and moved forward to inspect the injury.


	9. Plans

“What can you do for her?” Lady Sanda demanded.

Ava felt the muscles in her face tauten as she stared down at the bloody mass of flesh that had once been a leg. The men who’d dragged the guard inside had now stripped her of her armour, which was lying in a pile on the floor, but removing the heavily-dented trousers had proven difficult, and they’d had to cut the metal away with a saw. The sight had almost – _almost_ been enough to turn Ava’s hardened stomach. While she’d seen injuries like this before, they had rarely ended well for the patient.

“There’s no other course of action,” she said. “We’ll have to take the leg off.”

Lady Sanda’s eyes flared at the suggestion. “She’s one of my finest fighters!”

“Do you _want_ her to die?”

Ava was fully expecting to be backhanded across the face for her insolence, but for once, Lady Sanda didn’t seem to care. “Of course not!” she snapped. To the others, she said, “Get her on the table. Find the doctor something to ease the pain. Quick, get to it!”

Ava had not been trusted with any of her own medical supplies and this hampered proceedings as the remaining guards scrabbled to retrieve things from heavy storage boxes. She looked down at the young woman on the table, who was miraculously still conscious. She was tough. That was probably a good sign.

“What’s your name?” she said.

“Marisa.” Through her pain, the woman’s eyes looked shocked. Guards did not talk to the doctor. The doctor did not talk to the guards. “I can’t lose my leg.”

“I’m sorry. If we don’t take it off, you’ll die,” Ava said, a little more bluntly than she’d intended.

Marisa’s eyes filled with tears. “Do what you have to do.”

Medical supplies were set down on the table with a thud. Ava rummaged through bottles and bandages, trying to hide her frustration at how disorganised everything was. Lady Sanda’s guards were all trained in field aid, they should have known better than to mix disinfectants in with oral medicines… Eventually she found what she was searching for; a small bottle of greyish liquid with some ominous-looking symbols on it.

As Marisa gasped in pain and gripped the sides of the table, Ava double-checked the back of the bottle for instructions. As she expected, it was a concoction of grey sand berries and something a little more artificial, probably brewed in a lab by the Tech Hunters.

“Get me some water,” she said to one of her personal guards.

“Do you want it boiled?” Faced with the threat of losing his comrade, the guard seemed far more willing to help than usual. “Or seawater, or…?”

“Drinking water. From the tank.”

As the guard hurried away, Marisa tugged weakly at Ava’s shirt. “ _Am_ I going to die?” she said hoarsely.

“Not if I can help it.” Ava had hated the paladins, who had formerly made up the bulk of her patients, but medical negligence went against all her principles. “I’ll do everything I can.”

The guard returned with the water. Ava’s brow furrowed in concentration as she unstopped the bottle. A drop was all that was required. If she messed up the dose, her patient might never wake up from surgery.

Just the thought of that gave Ava chills. Her first patient since being imprisoned by Lady Sanda. If Marisa died on the operating table, she would never believe that it was an accident.

Holding her breath, she added a single drop of the greyish liquid to the cup. There was a faint cloying smell to it as it went in, but as she stirred, it dissolved to nothingness and she was left with a clear, scentless cup of water. She slipped the bottle into her pocket and handed the cup to Marisa, who was struggling to raise her head. “Drink this. All of it.”

She counted two and a half minutes before the concoction took effect. When it did, it was sudden, but Ava was ready. Thankful that Marisa had been lying down – her frame was still bulky even without her armour – she prepared for the grimmer part of her task.

It was difficult to focus, which made for a highly-strung surgery. Marisa kept turning into Ruka, and every time Ava sawed into bone, intrusive thoughts prodded her brain and tried to distract her. The tourniquet had been properly applied, but what if she hit an artery? What if she got blood all over Lady Sanda’s walls? What would happen if she lost her patient? And the temptation to let this woman suffer because of who she worked for nearly got the better of Ava at certain points. She had no idea what she would have done if it had been Lady Sanda lying on the table.

 _I’ve done this before_ , Ava reminded herself.

But never alone. Her father had always been there as a more experienced guide, when she’d been taking off the limbs of wounded paladins. Now, the best she could do was to imagine his voice in her head.

 _Concentrate_ , he seemed to be saying now. _Remember what I told you about leaving spare skin to sew over the stump._

She gritted her teeth as she sawed. She could feel the sweat in her eyes, but resisted the urge to wipe it away with her bloodied hands. _Almost there. You can do this._

With a final sweep of the saw, the leg was severed. Several of the guards wrapped it in a blanket and took it away. So far so good. Her hands shaking slightly, Ava began to stitch the remaining flap of skin over the stump. Everything was covered in blood, and the needle felt slimy under her trembling fingers.

 _Almost there_.

Finally the last stitch was in place, the loose thread was cut, and it was time for a final inspection before she bandaged everything. It wasn’t the tidiest amputation she’d ever done, and there was no guarantee her patient would survive, but it was the best she could do.

“Well?” said Lady Sanda.

“I’d say her chances were good,” Ava replied as confidently as she could.

“This had better be worth it.” Lady Sanda looked at her dining table, which was soaked in blood and powdered bone and fragments of muscle tissue. “Bring the doctor some hot water!” she called.

When the water had been fetched and Ava was able to scrub the worst of the blood off her hands, she found a somewhat less potent painkiller in the pile of medical supplies. She wrote a quick label for Marisa’s benefit, hoping that the guard was able to read. “Where will she go?” she asked of Lady Sanda. “Does she have a family?”

“My guards don’t have _families_. She can share a room with you until she recovers. Then we’ll find out how useful she still is. You and you!” she said, pointing to two of Marisa’s comrades. “Take her upstairs. And slave! Clear up this mess.”

“Oh, I can do it…” Ava began, but Lady Sanda cut her off.

“No. Go upstairs and stay with my guard.”

Feeling sorry for the slave, who was undoubtedly less hardened to gore than she was, Ava went back upstairs. In her partitioned bit of the room, the guards had rolled out a bed mat and had dumped Marisa onto it. Ava’s personal guards were crowding around, taking up too much of Ava’s precious space. She rounded on them.

“Wait on the other side of the partition, please. I need to stay with my patient until she wakes up.”

Having seen her in action, the guards were a little more grudgingly respectful towards her, at least for now. They left without any threats of violence, and positioned themselves on the other side of the partition. Ava knelt down beside Marisa, exhaustion tugging at her limbs. Surgery was _tiring_. She shifted slightly, her knees aching on the hard floor.

Something dug into her leg. It wasn’t a large something, but Ava had not noticed its presence before. She put her hand over her pocket and felt the smooth outline of a small glass bottle.

The bottle of anaesthetic.

Ava’s heart started to jackhammer as she realised what she had done. It had driven her father to great distraction, how she stowed things away on her person and then forgot where she had put them. He’d always nagged for her to be better organised. Now, Ava felt equal parts fear and excitement as she reached into her pocket and clenched her fingers around the bottle.

If anyone caught her with it, she might be treated as a thief. But if they _didn’t_ … She tried not to entertain that thought too much. Hope could be a dangerous thing.

She watched Marisa, waiting for her to awaken. Anaesthesia was so rarely a precise science in this world. Sometimes even the slightest overdose could trigger a permanent coma. But gradually she saw life start to come back into Marisa, and about an hour after the sleeping concoction had first set in, the young guard opened her eyes.

“Drink this.” Ava handed her the pain-killer.

“Didn’t the other one work?” Marisa blinked in confusion. Before Ava could answer her, she tried to sit up. That was when she saw the stump of her leg, swathed in bandages. She began to hyperventilate.

Ava had not imagined her day would end with her comforting one of Lady Sanda’s personal guard, but feeling the presence of the secret in her pocket, she realised the day had ended a little more optimistically than it had begun.

At least for her.

 

* * *

 

“I told you not to feed him the cooked meat!”

“What’s wrong with it?”

“Coz that’s _our_ food, you plank. He’s a dog. He doesn’t need fancy _gourmet_.”

“Well, we can just cook some more.”

“Yeah, but I went to the trouble of cooking that, and then you gave it to Scrap.”

Ruka opened her eyes. There was far too much noise in the room, everything hurt, and all she wanted to do was go back to sleep. “Shut up.”

The bickering stopped at once. “Ruka?”

A moment later two blurry, round-eyed faces appeared in Ruka’s field of vision. “Goren, she’s awake!” the paler of the two faces yelled.

“All right, all right. Give her some space, you two.” Another face came into focus. Ruka blinked, sure she was dreaming, but the vision did not change. “Good to have you with us at last.”

“ _Goren_?” To Ruka’s shock, her voice didn’t sound like her voice anymore. Her hearing was foggy, and she could barely speak above a croak. “What… what are you doing here? Where’s Ava?”

 _Ava…_ even as she spoke, things were beginning to come back to her. Ruka almost wished they wouldn’t.

She tried to sit up, but her muscles refused to obey her, and with her right arm strapped and slinged, she could only support herself one-handed. Kat laid a hand on her good shoulder. “Stay still,” she said. “Your strength’s kind of fucked right now.”

“ _Language_ ,” Goren said.

“Oh,” said Kat, “you haven’t heard Ruka yet.”

Ruka was still trying to piece it all together. “What time is it?”

“Eight in the evening.”

“Did I really oversleep that much?”

“You overslept by, uh…” Kat glanced at the others for support. “About four days.”

“Four _days_?” The sudden shout sent Ruka’s dry throat into a fit of coughing. When she’d recovered enough to speak, she mumbled, “Was I just completely out of it?”

“Very.”

As Ruka focused on Kat, she saw that the Scorchlander’s eyes were slightly reddened, as if she had not had much sleep. The relief in the girl’s face sent a troubling thought racing through Ruka’s mind.

“Was it really that bad?”

“There were points,” Rei said tremulously. “Where we thought we were going to lose you.”

“Well, shit.”

Since Ruka was hell-bent on sitting up, the others helped to lift her up and set her with her back against the wall. Her shoulder was throbbing, but raising her left hand to it took more energy than she had ever thought possible. She let her arm fall again. “I don’t understand what Goren is doing here,” she said.

Rei and Goren looked at Kat. She shuffled her feet. “I was trying to find a doctor.”

“You were in _Bark_?” Ruka said to Goren in disbelief. It had been _years_. How had she never seen him until now?

“No,” Goren said, “not exactly.” He laid a hand on Kat’s shoulder and she jumped. “I’ve spent the last few years in Sho-Battai. This young lady risked a lot to save you.”

 _Sho-Battai_ … Ruka’s hearing had been starting to come back, but the name was enough to make her wonder if she’d misheard. She stared at Kat, who was deeply focused on the floorboards, then back at the other two Shek. They were staring at her like she was some kind of specimen and in her newly conscious state, it was beginning to weird her out. “Can we have a moment alone? Me and Kat?”

As soon as Rei and Goren had stepped outside, Kat was immediately on the defensive. “There wasn’t another way.”

“You crossed the desert? _On your own_?”

“Yeah. I got caught in a sandstorm and nearly got completely lost. It was scary.”

“And I thought _I_ was an idiot.” But Ruka had more pressing concerns. She leant back against the comfortingly cool stone of the wall and tried to force the words through her hazy mind. “How did you manage it?”

“I swam out when it was dark. But there are currents and things. Anyone with a heavier weight or a less efficient swimming technique than mine probably wouldn’t make it. Unless they wanted to risk being shot at.”

“But you managed to get past the guards. There’s hope.”

Kat’s eyes widened. “You’re talking about us all running away?”

“I’m not about to stay here as a hostage.” Ruka swung her legs over the side of the bed and stood up. Or at least she tried to. Kat attempted to catch her as her legs buckled, but Ruka was too heavy, and the pair of them ended up on the floor.

“What part of _your strength is fucked, don’t try and stand up_ did you mishear?” Kat said through gritted teeth, pulling herself out from underneath Ruka.

“Sorry.”

They sat on the floor for a moment. Suddenly Kat laughed. “It’s good to have you back. Even if you _are_ an idiot sometimes.”

“Only sometimes?” But Ruka wasn’t quite in the mood for jokes. Summoning what little strength she had, she lightly touched Kat’s arm and looked her in the eye. “You saved my life. Thank you.”

Kat’s eyes flicked awkwardly to the wall behind Ruka’s head. “You should probably be thanking Goren.”

“And who brought Goren here? Who decided to undertake a night-time expedition across the desert to Sho-Battai? And who used up the last of my sake by boiling it and pouring it on me?”

“Yeah… I’m sorry about that one. It didn’t help anyway.”

“You don’t know that.”

“Anyway… I already kind of owed my life to you and Ava…”

“Stop. None of us owe anyone else anything. And besides,” Ruka said with a wan smile, “we still have one more person to save.”

“Ava? But… how are we going to get her out of that place?”

Ruka’s smile became grim.

“I’m sure we’ll think of something.”

 

* * *

 

Rei was sitting on the roof as she usually did, polishing her fragment axe. It would have been difficult for someone to take care of a sword as much as Rei did hers. For Rei, however, it was less a matter of personal pride and more a product of boredom. There was nowhere to go and nothing to fight, and boredom gave the slave master platform. If she hadn’t felt crazy before, she was certainly starting to feel it now.

Scrap was sleeping in the sun beside her, his long ear covering his eye and a half-gnawed garru bone on the floor next to his jaws. Every now and again he would give a tiny twitch or a snore. Rei allowed herself a small smile as she looked at him. They’d had him for… it couldn’t have been more than two weeks, not a great deal longer than she and Kat had been enjoying their freedom, but it felt like more.

The time they’d been free, perversely, felt like no time at all.

Rei had hoped the visions and smells and memories would fade away, but they had not obliged. In many ways, her confinement was worsening them. Sitting on the roof like this reminded her of when she had been caged and weakened and watching the free world go by beyond the walls. It was a different roof now, and a different set of walls, but she was still trapped.

She carefully laid the shining sword on its wrappings and leant back on her stool with her arms on the table behind her, wondering if things were ever going to be normal again. What _was_ normal, anyway? Being alone in the desert as prey for manhunters?

Her reverie was interrupted by a pair of burning Scorchlander eyes staring down at her.

“Shit!” Rei had to resist the urge to scramble onto the table away from Kat. “Don’t _do_ that!”

“Sorry!” Kat said hurriedly, backing away. “I wasn’t thinking.”

“What is it, anyway?” Rei asked, as her pounding heart and churning stomach fought a battle for dominance.

“We were having a discussion downstairs.” Kat reached for a bottle of water on the table and passed it to Rei, who was struggling to get her breathing under control. “Maybe it should wait.”

“Is it about…” But Rei had already seen Kat’s expression. She got to her feet. “All right. Let’s talk about it.”

“Are you sure?” said Kat.

Rei wasn’t at all sure, but it was a damn sight better than sitting on the roof with nothing but her thoughts. Trying to shake off the feeling that her chest was about to explode, she followed Kat downstairs to where Ruka was waiting.

Ruka looked terrible. She had none of her usual more boisterous energy, and she had to lean against the wall to even keep herself upright. Still, Rei had spent an entire night and most of a day just trying to keep her alive, and while she was still just a shadow of her former self, this was a definite improvement.

“Where did Goren go?” Rei said.

“Went to the bar,” Kat replied. “It’s all right, I’ve reminded him not to say anything to the patrons.”

The two of them sat down on Ruka’s bed.

“We can’t live like this,” Kat said. “We need to get out of here. With Ava, obviously.”

“How are we going to get Ava?” Rei asked. “Those noble houses are _really_ well guarded.”

“We haven’t quite, uh, ironed out the details on that one,” said Kat, glancing at Ruka.

“ _Well_ ,” Ruka said.

“Ruka thinks we could disguise ourselves as guards and sneak her out,” Kat explained, as though Ruka had presented an outrageous solution. “And use the disguise to get past the gates.”

“Do _you_ have a better idea? I’m still waiting to hear one.”

“Wait,” Rei cut in hurriedly, before Kat and Ruka could start bickering. Quite aside from the fact Ruka needed rest, she wasn’t sure she was in the right frame of mind to deal with conflict. “That might work.”

“You think?” Kat said doubtfully.

“Well, maybe. If we did it under a cover of darkness, we’d have a greater chance of success. We get Ava disguised too, and the four of us just walk out of the gates like we have every right to.”

“And how would we get the uniforms?”

“Oh… yeah…”

“I’m pretty sure the standard procedure is to knock the guards out,” Ruka put in.

“Uh, and _how_ exactly? Unless one of you has a secret skill you haven’t told the rest of us about, none of us are trained kidnappers or assassins. Besides, they operate in groups and it would be far too easy for one of them to raise the alarm if we failed.”

“We could hit them with something heavy,” Ruka said. “Like my sword.”

Kat looked pointedly at Ruka’s sling. “You’re not going to be swinging that sword for a long time.”

“Rei could do it, she’s good.”

“Again, they work in groups, and anyway, they wear helmets. It’s not going to work.”

They sat in silence. Finally Ruka said, “Assuming we work it out… what about the second part of the plan?”

“Oh, yeah.” Kat glanced at Rei. “I guess this is your call.”

“Killing the slave master,” Rei said quietly. She thought about the slaves still chained in the camp, the Shek women living in fear that Lord Haga would set his sights on one of them. “Well, if we escape Bark then the United Cities is going to be after us anyway. Or at least Lady Sanda is, and if she has a problem, all the nobles have a problem. Including Lord Haga when he finds out. So if – if we wanted to get the jump on him, we’d have to do this immediately after we left Bark. But as I said before, the noble houses are well guarded.”

Ruka cleared her throat. Rei and Kat turned to her expectantly. “I think I may have an idea for that,” she said.

“ _No_ ,” Rei burst out as soon as Ruka had told them her plan. “No. That’s a really bad idea.”

“What? I’m not suggesting _you_ do it. _I’ll_ do it.”

“Absolutely not! For a start, you’re injured…”

“Right. That’ll make it more convincing, don’t you think?”

“Ruka… you can’t…” Kat began.

“Kat’s right,” Rei said. “You’re still feverish… you’re not thinking clearly.”

“Look,” Ruka said. “You’re my friend, and these are our people he’s hurting. I might not be able to fight, but I can do this.”

Rei ran her tongue around her lips, which felt suddenly dry. “It would be so risky.”

“I know. But if you want to kill him, I’m not sure we have a better option.”

Rei had spent many sleepless nights dreaming of hacking off the slave master’s head with her fragment axe. It was one of the reasons she kept the blade so sharp. “I… I’ll need to think about it.”

“Well, we can’t go anywhere while Ruka’s like this,” Kat pointed out. “There’s plenty of time. And we need to work out how to rescue Ava from that… woman, first.”

“Even if we don’t kill Lord Haga,” Ruka said, “we’re going to get Ava, and we’re all going to leave this place.”

“Scrap as well?” Rei said, thinking of the sleeping puppy on the roof.

“As much as it pains me to say it, yes, even Scrap.”

Ruka’s words were beginning to slur together, and her eyes kept drifting closed and then snapping open. Kat and Rei helped her lie down, which was not an easy feat. As Ruka’s breathing slowed, Rei put the back of her hand against her brow. Her temperature was still a little high, but she was through the worst of it – hopefully.

“We should try and send another message to Ava,” Kat said. “In case she got the first one and is panicking. I’ll go this time. You stay with Ruka.”

Stifling a yawn, Rei sat on Ava’s bed and gingerly prodded her own bandages. Goren had taken a look at the cleaver wound, and the healing scar the skimmer had left, and had declared them to be nothing to worry about, but Rei had already seen an infected wound bring a tough warrior to her knees. She still couldn’t quite put her full weight on her injured leg without pain, although the pain was becoming more of a dull ache with every day that passed. Another week and she might even be able to run properly on it.

She thought about Ruka’s offer as she sat, with her bandaged leg resting on the bed and the bare toes of her other foot absently poking at the hole Ruka’s sword had made in the floor. It was not a plan that filled her with any confidence, and as tantalising as the thought of revenge was, she wasn’t sure she could let Ruka go through with it in good conscience.

_If she really knew, she wouldn’t have made the offer._

“I mean it, you know,” Ruka mumbled from the bed.

Rei did not look up. “I thought you were asleep.”

“Just half asleep. Rei…”

This time Rei looked around. Ruka’s eyes were burning, not just with fever, but with an intensity Rei had only seen back in the desert when she’d fought Hotlongs for Ava’s freedom.

“He’ll pay for it, I promise. Nobody messes with a Shek and lives to tell the tale.”


	10. Departure

“Are you sure we can’t tempt you to stay?” Kat said. “We’ll be sorry to see you go.”

It was early morning. The sun had risen barely an hour ago, and the first rays were beginning to warm the desert sands. Goren, who had been preparing for his departure since the previous day, just shook his head and slipped his map into his pocket.

“I think my work here is done. I’m sure there’ll be no shortage of patients elsewhere.” He shook Ruka’s hand. “It’s been good to see you again. I’m glad I was able to help you.”

“I owe you my life. If you ever need anything…”

“Oh, no,” said Goren. “I think you three have provided me with everything I needed.” He turned to Kat. “And as for _you_ , flatskin girl.” To Kat’s surprise, the corner of his mouth tugged a smile. It was the first time Kat had ever seen him smile, and it youthened him considerably. “You have my thanks.”

“For… for what?”

“For making me realise that maybe it’s time to return to my calling. Helping people.” He shook Kat’s hand, which was substantially smaller than his, and reached into his pocket. “And you know, maybe you’ll discover _your_ calling. Take this.”

He placed a small bundle in Kat’s palm. Kat stared down at it.

“What is it?” she said curiously.

“Open it and find out.”

Rei and Ruka watched as Kat slid the wrappings away. Lying in her hand was a round coin, engraved with a circle with a three-pointed star on one side and an image of a Shek warrior on the other. The token was attached to a knotted cord, presumably intended to be worn around the neck. As Kat looked at Goren in confusion, Ruka let out a small gasp.

“Do you know what this is?” Kat said, turning to her.

“Well, yes.” Ruka sounded stunned. “The Five Invincibles wear medallions like these.” She reached out to touch it, then quickly withdrew her hand as if she’d been about to do something she had no right to do. “Goren… where did you _get_ this?”

“Esata gave it to me,” Goren replied gruffly.

“ _Esata_?” Ruka’s voice had attained a pitch that Kat had never heard from her before. She coughed, looking embarrassed. In a more normal voice she continued, “The Stone Golem _gave_ you her medallion?”

“Who’s the Stone Golem?” Kat cut in.

“She’s the Queen of the Shek Kingdom,” Ruka said.

“Well, not when I met her,” Goren added.

“She was one of the Five Invincibles. The mightiest warriors in the kingdom.”

“Held that title for nearly twenty years,” Goren said, “and then she killed the old King and became the leader as well.”

“She _killed_ him?” Kat said, thunderstruck.

“He asked her to,” Ruka replied. “She duelled him for the leadership and he lost. It was a matter of honour.”

“Right,” said Kat. “And… Goren, why did she give you her medallion?”

“I saved her friend’s life. He’d defended her in an honour duel, killing the one who’d slighted her, and she begged me to help him. When I did so, she gave this to me as a token of her thanks.” He closed Kat’s fingers around the medallion. “I want you to have it. As a reminder not to lose hope… and perhaps, it’ll encourage you to take up medicine. I think you have a raw skill there. And if the world has one more doctor in it, I think it’ll be all the better for it.”

Kat wasn’t at all sure she had any kind of skill, but she smiled anyway. “Thank you.”

“And as for you, Rei.” Goren made no move to initiate physical contact, but he did nod at her respectfully. “Keep up the sword-work. Given time, I think that everything you feel could be channelled into something more. You have the makings of a great force for change.”

“I… thank you?” Rei said uncertainly.

“And with that,” Goren said, “I should be off. Wouldn’t want to be caught out in the desert after nightfall.” He turned away and strode down the steps, his coat rippling behind him as he walked. The three women watched him go.

“We didn’t say goodbye,” Kat said.

Ruka closed the door. “I think that’s the way he wanted it.”

“I guess so.” Kat glanced at her. There was no denying that Goren had saved Ruka’s life. After just a few weeks as his patient she was largely recovered; she was up and about, although Kat had seen her stumble from time to time and act as if like nothing had happened. Her shoulder was slowly healing, the bone plates fusing properly now they’d been correctly set. Still, Kat knew that arm would never be the same again, and it was still unknown whether Ruka would one day be able to fight anything close to her original ability. Ruka liked to pretend that it didn’t bother her, but Kat had seen the empty bottles of sake lying around.

“D’you think you will?” Rei said, interrupting Kat’s thoughts. “Become a doctor, I mean?”

Kat fastened the medallion around her neck and tucked it under her shirt. It felt cool against her bare skin. Its presence was oddly comforting for some reason.

“Maybe,” she said thoughtfully. “If Ava will train me.”

  

* * *

 

 

It felt strange, drinking grog with her enemies. Ava was unsure what to make of it.

Just a few weeks prior, she’d been battered and bruised and living in constant fear of violence from Lady Sanda’s guards. Now, however, she was being hailed as something of a celebrity for the way she had saved the life of one of their own. Even Lady Sanda was quietly pleased. She’d lifted some of the restrictions she’d placed on her doctor, so that Ava was able to move freely around the noble house without too many guards breathing down her neck. Sometimes, she was even permitted short walks around the island. The fresh air always came as a relief after the staleness of being trapped indoors.

Still, Ava was under no illusions. She was Lady Sanda’s prisoner and always would be. No matter how nice her guards were being or how many drinks they poured her.

“Here.” One of the original guards, whom Ava now knew to be called Thumbtack on account of his burly frame and thin legs, refilled Ava’s cup for her. “C’mon, smile a bit. We’re supposed to be having fun.”

Faking a smile, Ava watched as Thumbtack shuffled a deck of cards and passed them out among the guards. They’d been playing the same stupid games all evening and she longed to go to bed, but she had a feeling the guards wouldn’t take no for an answer. Part of her wished the guards would be loud enough to wake Lady Sanda up, so she could yell at them all to stop their frivolities and start doing their jobs instead. She suppressed a sigh and reached for her hand of cards.

“You win a round,” said Thumbtack, clapping Ava on the shoulder, “and I’ll give you a prize.”

“More alcohol?” said Ava listlessly.

“No.” Thumbtack lowered his voice. “I’ll let you in on a secret that you’ll want to know.”

Ava’s mouth suddenly felt dry. She took a gulp of grog. Of course, she thought wildly, it was probably just a trick and nothing the guard could say would be of any interest to her. But there was still a chance… “All right then. Deal.”

From that moment on, she played to win. A large degree of the game was down to pure luck, but the guards were more drunk than she was, and she suspected they were making careless mistakes. She didn’t win that round of cards, but she won the next. As the others congratulated her, Thumbtack took her by the arm and pulled her to the side of the room.

“All right,” Ava said, trying to sound braver than she felt. “Better uphold your end of the bargain.”

“How about if I told you that your friend was recovering?”

“Ruka? How did you…”

“Your friend came by. The Scorchlander.”

“When?”

“About two weeks ago.”

“And you’re telling me now…” Ava saw Thumbtack’s face darken slightly and remembered the time he’d struck her so hard her head had spun for half an hour afterwards. She hurriedly changed her tone. “Have you seen them at all? Do you know how they’re doing?”

Thumbtack shrugged.

“I see. Well, thank you.”

“Just don’t tell Lady Sanda that I told you that,” Thumbtack said in a slightly menacing tone, “or you’ll regret it.”

“I won’t tell her.”

“Good.” He lumbered off back to his stool, already arranging another game. Ava stood where she was, an idea slowly occurring to her. It was a stupid and risky idea, but a bold one. If she could pull it off…

“Should I refill the jug?” she said brightly.

“Go for it,” Thumbtack said, not looking up.

For a moment Ava’s resolve wavered, but she ignored it and grabbed the empty jug of grog from the table. As she refilled it from the barrel, she slipped the little bottle out of her pocket and very carefully dripped in the anaesthetic. She held her breath as the smell – which was more pungent in greater quantities – filled the air around her, but none of the guards appeared to have noticed. They were all too focused on their cards.

Despite everything, Ava grinned. She stuck her finger into the grog and stirred it as best she could, hoping that she’d got the dosage as accurate as possible. There were a number of guards seated around the table, but they were all drunk, and she imagined a few drops in a large jug would be enough to knock them out. She carried the jug back to the table and set it down in the centre.

“Drink?” she asked Thumbtack sweetly.

“Huh, yeah. Go on.” Thumbtack allowed her to refill his cup. Seeing this, several of the other guards pushed their own cups towards Ava. As drinking vessels were filled with the contaminated grog, Ava accepted a fresh hand of cards from Yamm, the squat ugly guard who had enjoyed tormenting her alongside Thumbtack.

“Who’s starting?” she said.

They were halfway through the game when Yamm suddenly fell face first onto the table. Ava winced as grog slopped over the sides of people’s tankards.

“Hey, what happened to him?” said Thumbtack.

“Looks like he had too much to drink,” Ava replied in what she hoped was a nonchalant voice. “He’s going to have a killer hangover in the morning.”

The guards laughed. Ava bit her lip, hoping that the noise wouldn’t rouse Lady Sanda upstairs.

One by one, the anaesthetic began to take effect, though progress was slowed by the fact everyone was nursing their grog rather than drinking it. Hoping to deflect any suspicion, Ava drank from her own, uncontaminated cup and faked tipsiness.

After about half an hour of increasingly confused conversation, the entire group was passed out at the table. Job done. Now for the part Ava had been dreading.

She selected a female guard about her size, and began to unbuckle her armour. The woman stirred and mumbled something as Ava removed her breastplate, but she did not awaken. Still, Ava knew exactly how it would look to anyone who walked in and saw her, and could only pray that it would not happen.

Once wearing her stolen armour, she stripped three more guards of theirs, and hid the evidence in a sack that had been used to store greenfruit. She pulled her hood further over her face, and prayed to Okran that anyone who was standing guard outside wasn’t about to ask questions.

“What’s going on?”

Ava nearly dropped the sack but caught herself just in time. There was a scuffling, scraping sound on the spiralling ramp that served as a staircase, and Marisa appeared, borne by two iron crutches.

 _Shit_. Ava had forgotten about Marisa. She’d assumed that the guard had taken her prescribed sedative and was fast asleep upstairs. _Stupid, stupid mistake_.

“Lyn? Is that you? Why is everyone passed out?” Marisa came to a stop. “You’re not supposed to be drinking on duty. Lady Sanda will…” Her eyes suddenly widened, catching sight of Ava’s face under the hood.

Ava moved faster than she had ever thought possible whilst wearing armour. She ran up the stairs to Marisa, who was unable to move away, and grabbed the girl by the arms, clamping a hand over her mouth before she could scream and wake Lady Sanda or the guards outside.

“I will gut you like a fish,” she hissed, “if you make a _single_ sound. Got it?”

Marisa responded by digging her elbow into Ava’s solar plexus. Ava gasped, momentarily winded, but the armour protected her from the worst of the pain. She dragged her struggling patient down the ramp and into the downstairs area, wishing Marisa had just stayed put.

“You can’t do this,” Marisa hissed as Ava momentarily removed her hand from her mouth. “You’re our _doctor_. You can’t – ”

“Yeah?” Ava hissed back, grabbing a rag from the table that had been used to mop up spilt grog. She stuffed it between Marisa’s teeth, cutting her off mid-sentence. “Well, I quit.”

Marisa struggled uselessly as Ava forced her onto the ground, hidden away behind one of the partitions. With just one leg, there was little she could do to resist. Ava, who was using Lyn’s supply of bandages to tie Marisa’s hands behind her back, tried not to feel too guilty either for her sobbing patient or for this flagrant misuse of medical equipment.

“I’m sorry,” she said as she tied the last knot.

Marisa appeared not to have heard. Her eyes kept flicking between Ava and the _nodachi_ she’d stolen from the unconscious Lyn. _She’s afraid of me_. It was a sickening feeling.

“I’m sorry,” she said again. “Someone should be awake to free you in the next hour. And then… feel free to hate me, or whatever. Just know that it really wasn’t personal.”

She picked up the sack and headed for the door, leaving Marisa trembling behind the partition and out of sight of the guards on the other side of the door. All she could do was fervently hope that Lady Sanda did not take out her anger on Marisa – or any of the other guards for that matter.

“What’re you doing out here?” one of the outdoor guards said in surprise as Ava stepped off the deck and into the soft dust, the heavy sack slung from her shoulder. “And what’s in the bag?”

“Getting rid of some stinking clothes,” Ava growled.

“What? _Why_?”

“Coz there’s vomit on them. I can show you if you want.”

“No, no.” In the dim light, the guard appeared to have turned slightly green. “I don’t think that’ll be necessary. Are… are people drinking in there again?”

“Yeah. And playing cards. And throwing up everywhere. And guess who gets to clear it up?”

“Sounds like a fun evening,” the guard said a little sulkily.

“Huh,” Ava grunted.

It was not until she was off the island and confident that the shadows were concealing her that she broke into a jog. It was difficult to go at any greater speed when wearing full armour, and the sack kept banging and clattering against her legs. Avoiding the street lighting as much as possible, she went up to the storm-house and knocked on the door.

There was no response for several minutes, and the inside of Ava’s stolen armour began to feel clammy. But then, there came the sound of a key being turned in a lock, and a second later Ava found herself face-to-face with Ruka.

For a second they stood frozen, Ruka slack-jawed and staring. Then Ruka let out a roar of delight and grabbed Ava around the middle, lifting her off her feet. On the roof, Scrap started barking. Feet clattered on the stairs.

“ _Ava_?” Rei’s disbelieving voice floated across the room. “How did you get here? Why are you dressed like that?”

Ruka set Ava down with a wince. She looked as though she was regretting her earlier gusto.

“Long story short,” Ava said breathlessly, dumping the contents of the sack onto the floor, “we’re getting out of here.”

As Kat, who’d been asleep in the corner, sat up and rubbed her eyes, Ava began to apportion out the armour. Some of it didn’t look as though it would fit any of them, which was something of an achievement given their diversity of body types, but it ought to be enough to get them out of the gates. “I’m sorry this is such short notice…”

“It was always going to be short notice.” Ruka laid a hand on her shoulder. “Are you all right?”

“I think so. Are you?”

“I’ve been worse,” Ruka said. “A lot worse.”

All Ava wanted to do was hug the three of them and not let go, but there was no time. “Kat. You’re speedy. Run out to the swamp-house and fill four bags with food and first aid kits, as quickly as you can.”

“Oh, about the swamp-house,” Kat said awkwardly. “I…”

“Tell me when we’re on the move! We have less than an hour. It could be as little as ten minutes if the guards outside get suspicious. Go, and be quick about it!”

As Kat grabbed the key and hurtled out to the swamp-house, Ava turned to Rei and Ruka. “You two. Get the armour on. We’ll need it to get out past the gate. Bring your weapons with you and anything else important, but only as much as you can carry.”

“We’re never coming back here again, are we?” said Rei as Ruka helped buckle her into her breastplate.

“No,” Ava replied. “I don’t think we will be.”

It was almost ten minutes before the other three were fully armoured and they were all wearing the backpacks Kat had prepared. Rei was holding Scrap in her arms. He was getting too big to be carried now, but Ava knew that of their options, carrying the puppy was the least likely to arouse too much suspicion. “Here.” She gave Rei the empty greenfruit sack. “Hide him under this.”

It was not without some regret that the four of them gazed around the house that had been their home for so long. Ava could remember the day she and Ruka had bought the place. It had been the first time they’d felt settled since being outcast from their respective nations.

“Come on,” she muttered, turning her back on the room for the last time. “Let’s go.”

The samurai on the gate were only mildly interested to see four women in guard uniform passing through. “Evening,” one of them said as they approached.

“Evening,” Ava said in return.

“Bit late to be heading out on patrol, isn’t it?”

“We don’t question our orders,” Ava replied. “Are _you_ questioning them?”

“Of course not!”

Buried under the greenfruit sack, Scrap let out a sudden whine. Rei coughed. “’Scuse me,” she said.

“Well, go on through then.” Giving Rei a funny look, the samurai waved them past. Ava forced herself to keep looking forward, not checking to see the expressions on the guards’ faces, or those of her friends. She could hear Rei’s nervous breathing immediately behind her.

It was not until they were safely hidden behind a sand dune that Ava allowed herself to think normally again. Or at least, as normally as she could with an adrenaline rush sending blood flowing to her head and making her giddy.

“These uniforms won’t fool anyone in the daylight,” she said. “We’d better ditch them.”

They removed their armour with some difficulty, burying three sets of samurai uniforms in the sand-drift. The fourth, which had been Ava’s, was divided out among the backpacks in case they needed it again. Their encumbrance significantly reduced, they had a proper reunion behind the dune, with Scrap licking at Ava’s legs.

“I was so worried about you,” Ava burst out as she hugged Ruka. “I got the message that you were ill, but I never got the message that you were going to be all right until tonight. I… I never wanted to risk an escape because I just didn’t know…”

“Hey, it’s all right. We’ve escaped now. No more Lady Sanda.”

“And no more hostage situations.”

Rei was hanging back from the rest of the group, scuffing her boots in the sand. Ava glanced to Kat for answers, but the Scorchlander was looking uncomfortable. “There’s a thing we haven’t had a chance to talk to you about yet.”

Ava felt a slight sinking sensation in the pit of her stomach as Kat explained the second half of her plan. She should have known, she supposed, but the fervour with which the other three were on board with it was enough to worry her.

“ _How_ are you going to get into the slave camp and kill… Haga?” she said, as Rei flinched.

“Are you gonna tell her, or am I?” Kat asked Ruka.

Ruka let out a long breath. Her eyes were cast down, not meeting Ava’s enquiring gaze. Ava bit the inside of her cheek. Ruka, not being able to look Ava in the eye… Ava didn’t need to hear the plan to know she wasn’t going to like it.

When she heard the plan, she was _sure_ she didn’t like it.

“Become a slave yourself?” she echoed. “In the hopes that Haga will choose _you_ to be his…” She trailed off. “No. That’s absolute madness.”

“We should walk and talk,” Kat said, gesturing with her thumb at the nearby town.

“Good plan,” Ava agreed. It was certainly a better plan than the harebrained scheme Ruka had managed to come up with.

“Look,” said Ruka as they walked, “that gets me into the noble house. In the meantime, the rest of you find some way to distract the guards, and Rei goes in for the kill.”

“ _No_. You could get hurt, or worse. I’m not about to let you get enslaved.” Ava looked to Kat and Rei for help, but they were deeply fascinated by the sand in front of them. “This is a _really_ bad idea. We’ve already pretty much beaten the odds to escape Bark. How are we going to pull off a stunt like the one you’re suggesting?”

“Listen.” Ruka stopped walking and put her hands on Ava’s shoulders. “You saw the injury I took. I can’t fight anymore. I might never fight again. But I will _die_ before I allow myself to sit back and be useless.”

“You’re not useless. You’re never useless.”

“Then let me prove it.”

Ava closed her eyes and exhaled slowly. “Narko’s tits. I can’t believe I’m agreeing to this, but… all right.”

“And I want you to be the one that turns me in.”

“I figured as much.”

It was a somewhat subdued journey across the sands that night. The newfound sense of freedom soaring in their hearts was dampened by the thought of the slave camp, and the dangers that lay within. When they found that they could walk no further, and the sun was beginning to rise above the horizon, they stopped and set up camp, taking it in turns to keep watch for skimmers and manhunters and any samurai who might be looking for them. Rei sat apart from the others, with her knees drawn up and the bonedog cradled against her chest, and gazed unblinkingly at the slowly lightening skies over to the south-west. Ava wished she could comfort her, but she found herself unable to find the right words, and not for the first time.

 

* * *

 

Morning manifested itself in a gritty, dusty brightness that caused Ruka to screw up her eyes. She rolled over, shielding her face from the sun with her arm, and came face-to-face with Ava, who was still asleep. Ruka lay still in the sand beside her, not wanting to disturb her. Ava looked paler than usual, and it took Ruka a moment to realise that her usual ruddy state of sunburn had all but healed. She wondered if Ava had been allowed to go outside at all during her confinement.

“Hey,” Ava mumbled, not opening her eyes.

Kat, who’d been keeping vigil over their camp, jumped to her feet and prodded Rei with the toe of her boot. “We’d better make a start.”

“Is she in charge now?” Ava said as Kat picked up her backpack.

“Apparently so.”

Ava sat up, rubbing the dust from her face. “Is that Bark over there?”

“It’ll be Sho-Battai,” Kat said. “The sea is in the east.”

Sho-Battai was not that far from the place where they’d rescued Kat and Rei just a few short months ago. But aside from the fact Kat’s hair was still short and she was still a little thin, she gave off no indication that she had ever been a slave. Rei looked older than her years, and sadder, but she showed no outward sign of turmoil as she gazed across the desert to where the worst of her memories were buried.

“Are you sure you want to do this?” Ruka checked.

Rei swallowed. “It’s now or never. I’m just not sure if I _can_.”

“We’ll be with you,” Kat promised.

Rei drew in a shaky breath. She reached out and squeezed Kat’s proffered hand. “All right. Let’s do this. We have people to save.”

“One thing first,” Ruka said. “Ava.”

Ava was staring at her warily. “What?”

“We’d better make this look convincing.”

“What do you – _argh_!” Ava ducked as Ruka swung a fist at her, but it still caught her on the shoulder. Ruka was pulling her blows, and her injured shoulder reduced the force of her punch, but Ava still yelped in pain. “What the _fuck_?”

“Fight me.”

“Are you _insane_?”

“Like I said,” Ruka said. “Needs to look convincing.”

Ava unsheathed her katana. They circled one another for a few moments, as Kat and Rei dived out of the immediate range of the fight.

“I don’t want to hurt you,” Ava said.

“Believe me, I’ve taken worse beatings. I doubt a scrawny Greenlander is going to – ”

Ava lunged with her katana and missed. The unfamiliar weight staggered her, and Ruka advanced. Kat and Rei winced from the sidelines as Ruka’s right hook collided with Ava’s cheekbone.

“Oh, really?” Ava panted.

She swung the katana again, this time catching Ruka across the collarbone. Ruka used the protective bony plate of her left arm to knock away the sword, sending Ava sprawling. Growling through gritted teeth, Ava chopped her hand into the back of Ruka’s knee, and Ruka folded.

“Come on,” Ruka taunted, “a six-year-old could do better than that.”

A moment later, a blur of motion knocked Ruka backwards into the sand. Ruka barely had time to react as Ava pinned her arms down.

“Good. Now punch me in the face.”

“ _No_!”

“Oh come on, it’s not like I was ever pretty.”

“If that’s how you want it.”

Ruka didn’t even see the blow coming, but she felt it when it landed. “Buckin’ _hell_.”

“I’m sorry.” Ava rolled off Ruka and helped her to sit up. Ruka winced at the feeling of the hot, viscous blood coming from her nose. “Here, pinch the soft part of your nose and tilt your head forward.”

“Dink it’s boken?” Ruka said thickly.

“Let me see.” Ava laid her hands on either side of Ruka’s head, inspecting the injury. Had the majority of blood in her face not currently been in her sinuses, Ruka might have blushed. “No, I think you’re fine. I’m really sorry.”

“Me doo.” The skin just below Ava’s eye was reddened. It would turn into a livid purple bruise in the next few days. “I didn’d hurd you doo bad, did I?”

“What? Oh, no, I’m fine.” Ava smiled ruefully. “Believe me, you didn’t pack as much of a punch as some of Lady Sanda’s guards.”

“ _Bastards_. I’ll kill dem when we’re done wid de slabe masder.”

“It’s fine. Lady Sanda might end up doing it for you.” She put a hand to her mouth. “Oh shit, she actually might.”

Only Ava, Ruka thought, would feel remotely guilty thinking about the fates of those who had wronged her. “Who gares?”

Ava passed her a scrap of cloth for her to wipe the worst of the blood from her face. “Anyway, I didn’t realise you were spoiling for a fight _that_ much.”

“Like I said.” The flow of the bleeding was slowing now, and Ruka’s voice was beginning to sound slightly less nasal. “Needs to look convincing.” She risked letting go of her bloodied nose and unfastened the sword from her back. “Put this on.”

“Narko’s tits, this is heavy,” Ava grumbled as she hefted the sword. Rei hurried forward to help her strap it to her back. “How do you do _anything_ with this attached to you?”

“You get used to it. Got anything to tie me up with?”

“Are you out of your mind?”

“I’m supposed to be your prisoner.”

“I think there’s some rope in one of the bags,” Kat offered, as Ava groaned.

“I’ve done more assaulting people and tying them up in the last two days than I ever wanted to do.” But she caught the rope that Kat threw to her.

“I hope this works,” Rei said doubtfully.

“And I _really_ hope you all know what you’re doing.” Ava started winding the ropes around Ruka’s wrists. She gave Ruka a hard look. “Especially you.”

“I’ll be fine. If things go tits up, you can buy me back.”

“Oh yeah, buying and selling slaves. Add that to my list of iniquities.”

They went the rest of the way in silence. When they were past Sho-Battai, Ruka began to recognise the forms of the sand dunes, and could just make out the distant walls of the slave camp glimmering in the heat. She glanced over her shoulder and saw that Kat and Rei were holding hands. “You two should probably wait outside with Scrap.”

“What about the skimmers?” Rei said.

“Try not to get eaten.”

Rei dropped Kat’s hand and hurried up to Ruka. Her irises were two small circles in a sea of white. “Please be careful,” she whispered.

“You too.”

“Ready?” Ava said to Ruka.

Despite everything, Ruka grinned. “It’s now or never.”

“Right.” Ava nodded at Kat and Rei, then put her hand in the small of Ruka’s back and prodded her forwards. “We’d better make this good. How’s your acting?”

“I’ve never tried.”

“Well, guess we’re about to find out.”

They approached the gates to the slave camp. Ruka assumed what she hoped was a defeated, miserable expression. It wasn’t as difficult as she’d imagined. The sight of the bald, skinny slaves, toiling away in the hot sun beyond the gates, was enough to turn her stomach.

“Go on through,” said one of the guards.

“Do they let just _anyone_ in?” Ruka whispered to Ava when the guards were out of earshot.

“Yeah, this place operates as a kind of slave market as well,” Ava muttered back. “If people want to buy slaves, they can get them here.”

“Is this really what happens whenever humans are left in charge of things?”

“Yeah, well,” Ava said, “we all know the Shek Kingdom is so morally superior, cutting off people’s horns and forcing them to work for the warriors. Move it!” she shouted suddenly at Ruka, shoving her forward.

“Fuck you too, flatskin.”

Upon hearing the commotion, a man came out of the slave shop. He was a large, podgy Greenlander, with a jaw like a bonedog’s muzzle and a pair of wide-set eyes that pointed in slightly different directions. “Fresh meat, eh? Well, you’d better come on in.”

Ava grabbed Ruka’s shirt and yanked her forwards. Ruka, who had already made up her mind not to resist too much, staggered into the shop. The slave trader looked her up and down, taking in the dried blood around her nostrils and the shallow cut across her collarbone. “Well, I’m sure we can come to an arrangement on the price.”

“Thanks,” Ava said. “She’s one of those lowlife bandits. Probably a former slave, to look at her horns. Never worked a day in her life, I don’t suppose.”

“We can fix that.” The man grabbed Ruka’s jaw, turning her head this way and that. Ruka glared at him contemptuously as he breathed the stench of rotten meat into her face. “Seems like a strong one. Good catch. I can give you eight thousand for her.”

“Sounds like a fair deal.”

“If I ever get out of here, you’re going to the top of my list, _flatskin_ ,” Ruka snarled as two guards moved to shackle her.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” Ava scoffed as the trader handed her a large string of cats. “You’re gonna spend the rest of your days chipping stone away, as you rightly deserve.”

Ruka spat on the floor. One of the guards made to hit her in the face, but the trader shook his head.

“Don’t bloody her any more than she is already. If our lord wants her, he’ll want her in presentable condition.”

As the guards bundled Ruka into a waiting cage, she caught Ava’s eye across the room. The cold, haughty expression on her friend’s face almost had her fooled for a moment. But behind that look was something far more human and concerned. _You’d better be sure about this_ , her eyes seemed to say.

Ruka winked at her. Ava shook her head and turned away, her long braid swinging behind her as she left the slave shop.

It was only when Ava had gone, and the slave trader had gone to send a message to Lord Haga that a new Shek had been brought into the camp, that Ruka began to wonder if she’d made a terrible mistake.


	11. Haga

Still crouched out of sight behind the sand dune where the skimmer had attacked them so long ago, Rei and Kat hailed Ava’s return with identical expressions of grimness. “How did it go?” Rei wanted to know.

“About as well as could be expected.” Ava slumped down in the dust, fiddling with the end of her braid. “They bought it. And her.”

“Are you OK?” Kat said.

“I just sold my best friend into slavery! Of course I’m not…” Ava stopped. “I’m sorry. It’s been a _really_ strange few days.”

“Believe me, it’s going to get stranger,” Kat said. “We need to discuss the next stage of the plan.”

Ava had only been gone a few weeks, but she sensed that Kat was not the same girl as the one she’d rescued in the desert. She’d heard from Ruka that Kat had been the one to take initiative and sneak out of Bark in the hopes of finding a doctor, and she’d seen the spark of newfound confidence in Kat’s eyes.

 _I guess we’ve all changed,_ she thought.

“We need to make sure we get to Ruka before… you know,” Kat said. “Before he hurts her. That doesn’t give us a lot of time.”

“Ten minutes,” Rei put in. “It was never more than ten minutes.” Scrap nuzzled her hand, and she stroked the dark fur at the back of his neck. “One of us is going to have to keep an eye on things.”

“I can do it,” Kat offered, but Rei shook her head.

“I think it should be you, Ava. You just sold them a slave, they’re not going to be too suspicious of you hanging about. Maybe have a conversation with them, commiserate about how _hard_ and _unrewarding_ it is to be in the slaving business… something like that. They won’t take her until it’s dark. Make some excuses for staying about. Keep an eye on… _his_ house at all times.”

“OK.”

“And when it happens, come straight back here and we’ll try and get me in to the noble house. Kat has a plan for that.”

“We still have a guard uniform,” Kat said. “I go to the noble house disguised as one of their own, and distract the guards enough for Rei to sneak in. That’s when _you_ come in handy.”

“What do you want me to do?”

“You’re the best at lockpicking. See if you can cause a distraction among the slavers by busting as many slaves out as you can. If you can get the keys off one of the guards, that’s even better. Tell them to cause a commotion. It’ll be dark, everything will be confusing for the guards, and we’ll hopefully free some people in the process. In the meantime, Rei gets her revenge, she and Ruka get out of there, and… hopefully this will all work.”

“If it doesn’t,” Ava said, “we’re all in serious trouble.” She tried not to think too much about the consequences of their actions, whether they succeeded or not. _Would_ they even succeed? The plan was hinging on a lot, and one conspirator failing to carry out her task would almost certainly mean failure.

“If we’re going down,” Kat said, “it may as well be for a good cause.” She stuck out her hand, palm facing downwards. The other two stared at her.

“Oh, come on. Put your hands in the middle. It’s what people do when they’re about to do a mission. To show they’re a team.”

“You’ve been listening to too many stories,” Rei said, but she put her hand on top of Kat’s anyway. With a sigh, Ava did the same. “And… thank you. For supporting me.”

“Hey,” Kat said, “I want him dead _almost_ as much as you do. Nobody touches my friend and gets away with it.”

As much as the slave camp and the knowledge of what went on in there made her skin crawl, Ava knew Rei was right about her being the best person to go in and keep an eye on things. She said goodbye to the girls, scratched Scrap behind the ears, and returned to the gate in the hopes that the guards wouldn’t ask too many questions.

“Back again?” one of them said snidely, but waved her through regardless. Ava headed for the bar, a large round building which dwarfed even the noble house. She noticed as she walked around to the entrance that she would not be able to watch the noble house through the door, but there was an exit from the upstairs that led onto the surrounding balcony.

 _Perfect_.

The inside of the bar was quiet, with only a few slavers sitting around with drinks. From outside, Ava could hear the shouts of many more, screaming and swearing at their slaves and threatening them with violence if they didn’t work faster. She tried to suppress a shiver, and sat at one of the tables near to where the slavers were.

“Well, well,” one of the slavers said as he saw her. He rose from his stool and lumbered over to Ava. “Aren’t you the one who brought in that Shek?”

“That’s me,” Ava said guardedly.

“She put up a bit of a fight, did she? You’re gonna get a shiner.” The slaver sat down without invitation and drank from his cup of rum. “You must be a good fighter. She looked like a solid wall of muscle, from what I could tell. Hey, let me get you a drink on our lord’s behalf. He’ll be in good spirits for a while. Makes our lives all a lot easier. I’m Enrick, by the way. What’ll you be having?”

“Just some water would be great. My waterskin is running low. I’ll need to fill up before I head out again.”

“Hey, stay a while.” Enrick spread his hands with a grin. “A nice girl like you in a shithole like this… brightens up our lives a little.”

“I’m not a nice girl.”

“Still a pretty one. I like ’em bad, myself.”

 _Grief_ , thought Ava. _Am I really going to have to subject myself to this until the sun goes down?_

“Well,” she said aloud, “maybe I should stay around.”

“Yeah? Where are you headed, anyway?”

“Heng,” Ava said, saying the first place that came into her head. “Meeting a friend there in a couple of days. But… you know, I’m sure I can spend a night here. It’s what, midday now? I think it’s a bit late to be leaving, especially when the company is so charming.”

“Well, uh.” Enrick blushed and scratched at the back of his neck. “I wouldn’t have said I was _charming_ , as such. I like to think I’m a pretty straightforward bloke.”

“Hm.” Ava smiled up at him. “You were going to get me a drink?”

“Oh yes… yes, of course…”

Ava spent the afternoon in a state of nervous boredom. Even if she hadn’t been troubled by the thought of what they were going to do, the mental image of Ruka alone in a cage or Kat, Rei and Scrap at the mercy of skimmers was enough to make her feel like her guts were full of stones. Thankfully Enrick, who was engrossed in telling her all about himself, didn’t seem to have noticed.

“So that was the point, right, where I thought this scrawny bandit was going to get the better of me. Would have been kind of embarrassing. But then I managed to pick up my club while my mates distracted him, and I got him right in his skull.” He pounded his hand into his fist. “Dropped like a stone.”

“Oh wow… I see…”

“Another drink? You can’t sit here just drinking water. Listen, I’ll get you something stronger. Come on. You might as well.”

“A grog?”

“One grog coming right up.”

He ambled off to get some from one of the barrels. Ava glanced out of the open door, noticing that the ground outside was a little darker than it had been earlier. Soon she’d have to start making her excuses.

Unfortunately for her, Enrick had no intention of letting her slip away.

“Maybe you’re dehydrated,” he said, when Ava said she felt sick. “I can get you more water.”

“No, I… I probably need the air.”

“I’ll keep you company.”

And thus it was that, despite Ava’s assurances that she would be perfectly fine on her own and would in fact prefer not to have an audience for her illness, she found herself standing on the first-floor balcony of the slaver bar, with Enrick hovering like an unwelcome insect.

“Look,” he said, “I like you.”

Ava, who was staring intently at the noble house, pretended not to hear him.

“And you know, you’re on your own, I’m on my own, we seem to have hit it off…”

“No, I…” Ava had spotted movement in the darkness. One of the hooded noble guards had just come out of Lord Haga’s house and was heading towards the slave shop. “I don’t think it’ll work.”

“Why not? You could come and work with me, we could take slaves together. It could be magical.”

He grabbed Ava’s wrist. Ava tried to pull away, but he was too strong for her.

“You and me. Together.”

“Get your _fucking_ hands off me!” Ruka shouted from below.

“Silence, woman.” There was the sound of a slap.

 _Ruka_. Ava stared up at Enrick, her heart thumping. “Please let go of me,” she said quietly.

“Oh, come on. You’ll change your mind.” He leaned forward, kissing her clumsily on the mouth. The scruffy beard on his chin scratched at Ava’s face. It was like being licked by an enthusiastic bonedog that had been drinking rum all day. And Ruka was being dragged into the noble house… there was no time…

Frantically Ava dug her hand into her pocket. Her fingers curled around the little bottle. Her breathing quickened, which Enrick took for a sign of arousal, and continued to kiss her. Ava unstopped the bottle with her thumbnail, kissed Enrick back briefly, and pulled away.

“Knew you’d come round,” Enrick said breathlessly. Ava’s only response was to pull him to the ground. They lay on the deck for a moment, Ava’s hands caressing his chest.

“Close your eyes,” she whispered. “I’ve got a surprise for you.”

She’d only half been expecting him to fall for it, but his more primal urges had driven all common sense from his mind. She leant forward so he could feel her breath on his face, said a quick prayer in her mind, and dribbled the last few drops of the anaesthetic onto his lips. He mumbled something contentedly, and ran his tongue over them. At this point he tasted the sleeping draught, and his eyes widened in sudden horror, but it was too late. Ava slammed her hand into the side of his head, hard enough to subdue him but not enough to knock him out. “What…”

Ava clamped her hand over his mouth, aware that there were people upstairs. To her surprise, Enrick’s eyes rolled back almost instantly. His breathing slowed to a crawl.

“Shit,” Ava whispered as a horrible suspicion came over her. She’d poured the anaesthetic straight from the bottle, and she had almost certainly let a bit more of it out than she’d meant to. She’d overdosed him.

There was no time to do anything, if she even could do anything. So she hauled him into what might have passed for a drunken sleeping position, pushed his empty cup of rum into his hand, grabbed his keys, and left him. Nobody in the bedroom upstairs seemed to notice her, or even care much, as she left.

It was not until she was out of the slave camp that she burst into a sprint. She ran blindly through the darkness, stumbling in the dusty sand. Finally she reached the dip where Rei, Kat and Scrap were huddled. They immediately jumped to their feet on her return.

“They’ve taken her inside,” Ava gasped. “It’s been at least five minutes. I’m sorry, I was held up. You’d better hurry.”

Kat cursed. She was already wearing the stolen armour, but it was slightly too big for her, and Rei had to haul her to her feet. “Look after Scrap, yeah?” she said to Ava. “And don’t forget what I said about freeing the slaves. Come on, Rei. Let’s go.”

Ava stared after the two retreating figures. What was she supposed to do with a bonedog? If anything happened to him…

Sensing her turmoil, Scrap whined and sniffed at Ava’s fingers. Ava spat the taste of Enrick’s boozy tongue from her mouth, and picking the puppy up, allowed him to nestle against her chest. There had been times when she had not been able to save patients, and she had made mistakes before now, but she had never directly caused anyone’s death. What did that make her? A murderer?

 _Maybe he’s OK_ , a voice in her head said, but the voice was doubtful.

Scrap licked at Ava’s nose, and she sobbed. It was a while before she could calm herself. Ruka, Kat and Rei were all in danger, she was alone in a skimmer-filled desert, and she’d just killed a man.

_Believe me, it’s going to get stranger._

Chuckling, Ava wiped her eyes with the back of her hand. Kat had certainly been right about that.

 

* * *

 

“Ready?” Kat said to Rei.

“Yup,” Rei muttered back.

It was a pointless question. They had no time to _not_ be ready. Time was ticking, and with every second they lost, the worse things were looking for Ruka.

They hurried through the gates with a quiet purpose in their walk. The guards nodded respectfully at Kat in her uniform, and gazed curiously at the slender Shek with no horns, but they made no move to stop either of them. As they reached the noble house, Kat reached again for Rei’s hand. Rei’s palm was so damp with sweat that her hand nearly slid straight out of Kat’s.

“Good luck,” Kat whispered.

“You too.”

Rei hurried away before anyone saw her. She hid in the shadows at the base of the building and watched as Kat went up to the guards, smiling broadly. She gave Rei a surreptitious thumbs-up that was nearly lost in the darkness. Rei knew what that meant. The door was open. “Evening.”

“Evening,” grunted a guard.

“Nice night, isn’t it?”

“Not bad. Wish I was doing something else instead of freezing my ass off out here.”

“It’s all right,” Kat said, “you’ll be getting some exercise soon enough.”

There was a pause. Rei could almost hear the gears turning in the guards’ minds.

“Wait a minute,” one of them said slowly, “you’re a Scorchlander.”

Rei crouched in the darkness, peering over the side of the deck and waiting for the pieces to fit together.

“We don’t have any Scorchlanders in our ranks,” said another guard, “so who the hell are you? And why are you wearing our uniform?”

At that, the guards all drew their swords.

“Oh, looks like it’s getting late. Nice catching up. Talk later!”

“Stop right there!” The guards hurtled after Kat as she ran away, giggling. Her heart in her mouth and the faint stink of lavender in her nostrils, Rei scurried onto the deck and slipped into Lord Haga’s house.

She’d been mentally preparing for this day for weeks. It didn’t make seeing the place any easier. For a second the room span around her, and she gripped one of the metal partitions for support. She wished she had Scrap with her.

As much as Rei strained to hear what was going on upstairs, she could make nothing out. Hoping against hope that she wasn’t too late, she crept up the spiralling ramp to the first floor, moving as noiselessly as she could. The lights had been turned out, and the only light in the room was the moonlight coming in through the windows. A cloud of smoke, coupled with the smell of burning hashish, floated above one of the partitions and over to her. She pinched her nose, trying not to breathe it in. She supposed it was better than the smell of lavender.

“Well, then. I suppose we’d better make a start.”

Rei fought back the urge to vomit at the sound of the slave master’s sickly tones. For a split second it was as if she had never left, and Haga was saying those words to _her_. She gripped her fragment axe tightly in both hands, feeling the sweat run down the hilt.

“Is this what you do?” Ruka’s voice came from behind the partition. “Can’t get a woman to agree to sleep with you, so you make do?”

“Such a smart mouth,” Haga purred. “We’ll see if you’re still snarking at me in a few minutes.”

Rei peered around the partition. There he was, the man who had tormented her sleeping and waking moments for months. His white hair was long and loose, his beard neatly trimmed, a garishly-dyed silk robe slung around his shoulders and exposing his bare chest. For a single, all-consuming moment Rei was filled with a burning rage that yearned only for destruction, completely overriding her survival instinct. She dug her heels into the floorboards in an effort to stop herself giving in to her urge to just run in there. _Wait until he’s completely distracted_.

Haga stubbed out the joint on the table and took Ruka by the arm, throwing her onto the bed. Rei had forgotten just _how_ strong he was, and judging by the shock on Ruka’s face, she hadn’t been expecting it either.

 _No_. The floor spun around her, and she swayed, nearly dropping the fragment axe. She could feel how strong the slave master’s grip was now. How his breath had always smelled just a little bit of blood. He was in her head. She’d been foolish to think he’d ever left, even for a second.

“Let me _go_ ,” Ruka snarled. “Or I swear to Kral, I will dice you into tiny pieces and feed you to the gutters.”

“Not likely.” The bed creaked as an additional body clambered onto it. “You know, this is what they all do. Plead, bargain, make threats… But only in the beginning. After a while they just lie there and take it like good little slaves. I break them all. And you’ll be no exception… _warrior_.”

The world was beginning to blur. Rei wasn’t even sure she could support herself anymore. Hands grabbed at her from all sides, voices jeered at her, colours and sounds swirled around her. And on top of all that, the stench, the overpowering stench, of lavender clawed its way into Rei’s nostrils and down her throat, choking her. She tried to think, to clear her head, knowing that what she had to do was important. She couldn’t just squat here in the darkness and allow the flood of memories to push her around.

She stood up slowly. Everything felt like she was walking through treacle. The colours snatched at the corners of her eyes, threatening to pull her attention away. The lavender clung to the back of her throat, trying to stop her breath. The treacle dragging at her limbs tried to pull her down.

“ _No_!” With a shout she didn’t even recognise as her own, she brought the fragment axe down on the slave master’s back.

There was a silence. Rei stared at the scene through blurry eyes. The slave master’s back was turned to her as he straddled Ruka’s prone form, but she could see him swaying. Then he toppled like a tree, landing on top of Ruka with a thud.

Rei grabbed a fistful of Haga’s hair, yanking his head up. He stared up at her, his glowing amber eyes slightly unfocused. “Who the…”

“Remember me?” Rei hissed.

“Who the fuck are you?”

Rei drew back her fist and punched the slave master in the jaw. “Maybe that’ll jog your memory,” she said as he howled in pain. “Or if that doesn’t, maybe _this_ will.” She hauling him off the bed and onto the floor, listening with satisfaction to the sound of his skull bouncing on the floorboards. “Or _this_.” She punched him again.

“Crazy bitch,” Haga gasped through a mouthful of blood. “You think you can harm me and get away with it? The Emperor will send his men after you.”

Rei pushed her face into his. “Must be as crazy as you then, because you thought you could harm my friend and get away with it.”

Haga’s response was to headbutt her. Rei backed away, her head spinning. Her fragment axe was lying on the floor some distance away. She must have dropped it after she’d sliced into Haga’s back, but she had no conscious memory of doing so. She felt herself dry heave as Haga stumbled to his feet and grabbed her by the collar of her shirt.

“Oh yes, I remember you now,” he whispered, his voice thick with blood and pain. “Such a shame you ran away. We could have been good together. Well, slave girl. Why are you hesitating? Don’t you want to kill me?”

“I’ve wanted to kill you from the moment I laid eyes on you,” Rei breathed.

“Guards!” Haga called.

“They won’t help you now,” Rei said. “They’re busy chasing my friend all around the slave camp.”

“You little _bitch_.”

Rei dived for the fragment axe. Haga, who’d had the same idea, dived for it too, and for a sickening moment his hot, lavender-perfumed body was on top of hers. Rei gritted her teeth and elbowed him in the stomach. He folded, and she grabbed the axe from the floor.

“Say a prayer to whatever gods you follow,” she said, breathing heavily. “Because you have a _lot_ to answer for.”

She made a point of looking him in the face as she swung the sword through his neck. The cut was so clean his head stayed on his body for a second after the life in his eyes had faded. Then both head and body thudded to the floor at Rei’s feet, spraying her with arterial blood. She stared down at the corpse of the man who’d taken so much from her, and was surprised to realise that she felt nothing.

“Ruka?”

Ruka had not moved. She was lying face down on the bed, her shackled hands stretched above her head like a diver, where the slave master had pinned them down. Rei gently took her by the shoulder, pulling her into a sitting position. “Ruka, we’ve got to go.”

But Ruka’s eyes were vacant and she gave no sign of having heard Rei. Rei closed her eyes and drew in a deep breath. “I’m really, really sorry about this,” she muttered aloud, and slapped Ruka hard across the face.

Ruka gasped, blinked, stared up at Rei with an unreadable emotion in her eyes.

“Come on, snap out of it!” There was no way Rei was going to be able to drag Ruka as a deadweight, and it wouldn’t be long before people came to see what had caused Kat’s earlier commotion. “We gotta go!”

Just then there came the sound of shouts from outside. Rei glanced out of the window and saw dark figures running back and forth like confused ants. If she had to guess, she would have put money on Ava having just freed some of the slaves. It made getting away all the more urgent, since the guards would undoubtedly be racing to protect the slave master. “ _Move_ , you muscleheaded idiot!”

Shouting insults at someone who was so clearly shaken up was a new low for Rei, but it was far better than the alternative of them both being killed. She grabbed Ruka’s hand and pulled her down the ramp, leaving the two pieces that had been Lord Haga lying on the floor.

Outside was complete chaos. Slaves, some still in their shackles, were attacking the guards with everything they had. A few Shek were charging towards the noble house, with slavers hot on their heels.

“Don’t waste your time,” Rei said. “He’s dead.”

The words passed around the slave camp like an electric current. Realising she may have made a mistake, Rei dragged Ruka into the shadows. A number of guards poured into the noble house they’d just left, while the slavers began their search for the troublemakers with even greater urgency.

“I want the gates closed at once! Nobody gets away! Subdue the slaves and search the place immediately!”

Rei pulled Ruka behind the storm-house of the slave shop. Ava… where was Ava?

Where was _Kat_?

She heard a snarling sound from somewhere she couldn’t see. It was not a human snarl, but a canine one. Rei peered around the side of the building, and saw, in the moonlight, a small but furious bonedog puppy biting at the slavers’ legs as they took swipes at him with their clubs.

“Scrap! Here, boy,” she whispered, but if Scrap had heard her, he showed no indication. He was leading the slavers on a merry dance, weaving in and out of their blows and occasionally darting forward to take a chunk out of their boots. And then Rei saw Ava, facing off against opponents twice her size with nothing but the katana to block their fierce attacks.

“Stay here,” she told Ruka, and ran into the fray.

She had not fought properly since Hotlongs, and lack of practice over the course of several months had made her technique about as rusty as Ava’s katana. But there was no way she could abandon the medic to be battered down by the slavers’ clubs. Ava was already flagging; she had spent the past few weeks entirely in one place, and Rei suspected she was still tired from their trek across the desert the previous night.

“This is no place for you,” she snapped at Ava as she brought down one of her opponents. “Get to any slaves you can find who are still alive. Stay low and help them.”

Ava hesitated, then hurried off.

“Someone go after her!” a slaver shouted.

Rei swept her blade towards the slaver’s sword arm, but he darted out of the way and the fragment axe went wide. The slaver ran forward, sensing an opening. Rei tried to back up, realising that she was much too close and he was well within range to hit her, but she stumbled over a body lying on the ground behind her and nearly tripped. A blow to the side of her head sent her sprawling in the dust.

“We’ll have you sent to Tengu’s Vault for this,” the slaver who’d felled her said as Rei groaned. “You’ll never see the sunlight again.” He twisted Rei’s arm painfully behind her back. “You and your friends will pay dearly for what you’ve done tonight. In fact, I’ll take special care to make sure…”

The hand that had been pinning Rei’s arm suddenly disappeared with a gurgle. Rei lay in a daze, unsure of what had just happened. Then she felt a paw press against her back, and she looked up to see Scrap standing over her with ears pricked. In the moonlight, she could see that his muzzle was soaked in blood. For a horrible second she thought it was his, but then she saw a severed wrist clamped tightly in his jaws. She could have sworn the fingers were still twitching.

“Thank you,” she whispered.

Scrap did not respond. He was staring at the advancing slavers. Many of them were still facing off against the slaves, who had grabbed whatever weapons they could find, but there were still a lot of them. There were even a few of Lord Haga’s number amongst them. Rei struggled to her feet, faced with the choice of picking up her sword or picking up Scrap.

She chose Scrap.

“After her!” someone shouted.

In the darkness, it was difficult to tell who was winning. Slaves lay dead or broken on the ground, but many had taken down their captors with them. Some appeared to have successfully barricaded themselves on the first floor of the slaver bar, and were throwing things at the guards from the balcony. Rei smelled acrid smoke rising into the air, and when she looked to see what was burning she discovered that the slaves had set the power station on fire. One by one, any lights that had been on began to go out, and a minute later, the power station itself erupted in a ball of flame. Even though she was some distance away, Rei could feel the heat from the explosion on her face.

“Slaver bastards!” a voice yelled from above Rei’s head. A bottle of sake went flying, smashing into the ground near where the slavers were fighting. Rei leant against the wall, breathing heavily.

The others… She had to go back and help the others. Right now Ava was probably being chased by the slavers, and Ruka was in no state to do anything.

_I can’t let them die because of me._

She cast her eyes around, searching desperately for a discarded weapon, and found a club, clutched in a dead slaver’s hand. She set Scrap down on the floor and picked up the club. “Heel,” she told him.

Scrap seemed to understand, or perhaps he was just worn out from running around biting people. The severed hand still in his mouth, he trotted obediently at Rei’s side, and followed her around the other side of the slaver bar to where most of the carnage was happening.

Rei had seen the battle unfold, but in the few minutes since being disarmed, it was clear that new developments had happened very quickly. Bodies lay strewn everywhere, and the sands were stained with blood. Those that were still fighting were facing off against the lone silhouette of a shackled woman with shaved-down horns, who was wielding a katana in her left hand.

To Rei’s surprise, Ruka remained a strong fighter, even with heavy weights on her wrists and a skinny, unfamiliar blade in her non-sword hand. Still, she was not swift enough to wield the katana properly, and many of her blows were cutting through nothing but the slavers’ leather jackets.

A slave that Rei had assumed had been downed for good stirred on the floor behind one of Ruka’s enemies and tackled them, sending them flying to the floor. Another enemy turned, momentarily distracted, and Ruka took advantage of the opening to plunge her sword into his gut. She stepped back shakily, assuming a defensive position over a fallen body on the floor.

“Help me,” gasped the man who’d tackled the slaver. “I can’t hold her for much longer.”

Rei smashed the club into the woman’s skull. The slave yelled in shock and rolled off the body. Rei held out a hand to him. He looked up at her with awe and fear, then slowly reached out and allowed her to help him up.

“What’s your name?” she said.

“Uh… B-Bland. Wait, don’t I know you?”

“Probably,” Rei said. “Listen, Bland, go to the bar. Lie low. If you can’t fight, play dead.”

He’d just seen her mash a slaver’s brains into paste. There was no way he was going to argue with her. He left as fast as he could limp, leaving Rei and Ruka alone in the middle of what had just ten minutes ago been an active battlefield.

“Ruka? Are you OK?”

Ruka stared down at the katana. In the dim light, Rei could just about see that the blade was dulled with blood and rust.

“Ruka?”

“It’s Ava’s sword.” Ruka’s voice was small. She let the katana fall from her hand and fell to her knees, cradling the motionless figure that had been at her feet.

“ _Shit_.”

Rei dropped down beside Ava. Her chest was barely moving, but she was breathing. “Ava, can you hear me?”

Ava’s eyes fluttered for a second, her lips moving soundlessly. Even if she had been able to speak, there would have been no hearing the words over Ruka’s heart-rending sobs. Rei had never seen such a complete loss of composure from Ruka before. She’d always assumed her to be somewhat more stoic than that. But when it came to Ava…

_I’d never thought a Shek could care for a flatskin so much._

Ava’s lips moved again. This time Rei put her head to her friend’s mouth. “What is it?”

“I said, I’m not dying. Tell her I’m not dying.”

Rei looked up at Ruka. Her face was creased in grief and tears were rolling down her cheeks. She laid a hand on her heaving shoulder. “Ruka. She’s going to be all right.”

“What?” Ruka whispered blankly.

“I don’t think she’s seriously hurt. I think she’s just exhausted.”

Ruka’s sobs did not cease, but the tone of them seemed to change. Rei left her to it and cast her eyes around for her own flatskin. Kat… where was Kat? The last time Rei had seen her, she was being chased down in full armour by a large number of highly trained guards…

Fearing the worst, she picked her way over the dead and dying bodies. At points she would see someone in a noble guard uniform lying on the ground, and her heart would jump into her mouth, but it was only ever one of Haga’s.

The slave camp was a ghost town. There were plenty of remaining slaves, some in hiding, some looting, some patching up their wounds, but none of them approached Rei as she walked forward. “Kat?”

There was no response, either from the escaped slaves or from Kat herself. Scrap whined beside her. Rei wiped away hot tears before they could fully form.

“Stupid idiot,” she whispered, but she had no idea whether she was referring to Kat or to herself.

“Looking for something?” a woman’s voice said.

Rei jumped and looked up. A figure dressed in Lord Haga’s uniform was standing in the shadows by the slave shop. She stepped out into the moonlight, the light glinting off the blade of her _nodachi_. Rei froze. Even in this light, she could tell that the woman was a Greenlander, not a Scorchlander, and her voice was not Kat’s.

Rei’s eyes drifted slowly, unwillingly, to the limp figure slumped against the woman’s shoulder. The figure was dressed in the same uniform as the Greenlander, but her armour completely dwarfed her, and underneath her chainmail hood, Rei could just make out a few tufts of short white hair.


	12. Enemies

“Time to make a deal, criminal,” the woman said, the blade of her _nodachi_ pressed against Kat’s waist. It was the weakest point in her armour, with the metal leg plates on her trousers ending at the tops of her thighs. “You and your friends drop your weapons and surrender to me. This ends tonight.”

Rei dropped the club she’d been holding. The woman smiled in satisfaction. “Good girl. Now, kick it away from you. And get on your knees.”

“No…” Kat slurred. “Rei, don’t do it…”

Rei knelt in the dust, scooping up Scrap with shaking arms. “You don’t have much of a leg to stand on, lady. You got Kat, but it looks like you’re the only one of your side left. And there are still slaves about who will be pretty unhappy to see you’re alive.”

“They’re weak things,” the woman spat, “like your friend here.”

“Don’t… underestimate me…” Kat said in a whisper.

“Shut up.” The woman pressed her _nodachi_ harder against Kat’s waist. “If you so much as _breathe_ , Scorchlander, I’ll cut you into ribbons.”

“None of us are armed!” Rei said. “We’re on the floor. Just let her go.”

“Not until all of you are caged like the criminals you are.” The woman’s eyes were wild. “You murdered my boss.”

“And _you_ stood guard while he used us like things,” Rei snarled. “Don’t even bother pretending you didn’t know what he was doing.”

“It was none of my concern what he was doing,” the woman said. “You were slaves.”

Kat opened her eyes. Rei had assumed her to be half unconscious, but at that moment she realised that she was more alert than she was letting on. Her hand was inching towards the woman’s _nodachi_ , one agonising movement at a time. Rei knew she had to keep the guard distracted. “We were _people_.”

The guard’s lip curled as she stared at Ruka, who was weeping quietly with Ava still in her arms. “Weaklings are not deserving of their freedom.”

“So, what are you going to do with _thi_ s set of weaklings then?” Rei said. “Hold us all here until morning? Keep this standoff going until some passing manhunters arrive with fresh slaves? What’s to make you think they won’t try and take _you_ at the same time?”

The woman hesitated, and Kat seized the opportunity. The sole of her left boot planted into the guard’s left knee, forcing it at an unnatural angle, and her right hand closed over the woman’s sword hand. The guard shrieked in pain and surprise, her grip loosening on Kat. Kat tried to break free with the _nodachi_ , but the woman recovered quickly. She wrapped her left arm around Kat’s neck, her fingers clutched at Kat’s face, and pushed the point of the _nodachi_ against her chin. “Nice try… _ow_!”

Kat had just bitten the hand grabbing her face, and used the steel of her arm guard to knock the _nodachi_ away from her. Her exhaustion had clearly been compounded by the sudden movement wearing heavy armour, and she was breathing heavily. “I told you not to underestimate me.”

Rei darted forwards, grabbing the sword before the woman could regain her balance. A tug-of-war ensued, with the guard holding onto the _nodachi_ with everything she had as she simultaneously tried to swing it into Rei’s face. Kat attempted to dodge, but overbalanced in her armour and landed in an undignified pile of steel plates on the ground.

The tussle continued, Rei and the guard both seeking sole mastery of the sword. The guard was far better armoured than Rei, but the steel strapped to her limbs and torso made her movements cumbersome, and Rei pressed home the advantage. She twisted the handle of the blade quickly away from them, and the relative inflexibility of the woman’s armour meant she was forced to let go. Rei held the _nodachi_ carefully in both hands, noting the weighting, ready to strike.

The woman bared her teeth in a strangely feral smile. “You’d kill an unarmed opponent?”

“Rei,” Kat said from the ground. “Get her in a cage.”

“She was _his_ guard,” Rei snarled. “Letting her live? Not likely.”

“Rei – ”

Rei switched her blade to her dominant hand, her left hand yanking back the guard’s head. The woman gurgled as the blade embedded in her throat. After cutting off the slave master’s head, it was like cutting through meat. Rei released her grip on the woman’s body and let it fall.

Scrap pattered over to the dead guard and sniffed her curiously. Rei had seen how bonedogs fed on corpses, and for a minute she was tempted to see it happen, but something stopped her. “ _No_ , Scrap. Get back here.”

Kat was fighting to unstrap her armour, and Rei hurried to help her. She felt Kat flinch at her touch and froze. Rei knew she was covered in arterial blood, both Haga’s and the guard’s, and Kat had just seen her kill an unarmed woman. _She probably thinks I’m a monster_.

“I can do it,” Kat mumbled, finally triumphing over the breastplate and yanking it over her head. She grimaced.

“Are you hurt?” Rei asked.

“Busted up my knee when I went down just now. Other than that I’m mostly fine.” She stared at Rei with an unreadable expression on her face. “How much of that blood is yours?”

“I’m not entirely sure.”

“And Ava, is she…” Kat’s hand suddenly went to her mouth.

“I think she’ll be OK, but since you’re the second best medic we’ve got, you might want to check.”

Kat crawled over to her. It was too dark to see properly, and she’d left her backpack buried in a sand-drift outside the gates, but Ava had been wearing hers, and she gently unfastened the straps. The Hiver lantern was neatly packed inside the canvas, miraculously unbroken despite all the abuse the backpack had probably suffered. Kat lit it and passed it to Ruka. “Hold this.”

Ruka stared blankly at her. Kat swore under her breath and handed the lantern to Rei instead. “I need light to see what I’m doing. Ava? You awake?”

“I think so,” Ava said weakly.

“That’s a good start. Are you injured anywhere?”

“Think I took a club to the leg at some point, but I can’t really feel it if I did.”

Rei looked down. There was a patch of blood over Ava’s right thigh, and the faint smell of something thick and cloying. She reached for Ava’s katana and used it to clumsily cut the fabric away. As she did so, shards of glass fell out of Ava’s pocket, accompanied by a strange chemical smell.

“The fuck?” Kat said.

“Oh, yeah,” Ava said, her eyes closing for a moment. “Forgot about that.”

“What _is_ it?”

“A potent anaesthetic.”

“And this anaesthetic,” Kat said as she inspected the wound, “does it perchance work when it has direct contact with the bloodstream?”

“Um, probably…”

“Well, there you have it.” Kat gestured for Rei to bring the light closer. “Yeah, that’s probably why you went down in the first place.”

“Taste of my own medicine, right?” Ava mumbled. Her eyes flicked to Ruka. “Hey, it’s OK. I’m fine.”

“We’ll need to clean out whatever glass might be in the wound,” Kat said, “but given that the bottle was in your pocket, you may have got lucky.”

“Just as well there wasn’t much left,” Ava said. “I… might have used a little on some of the slavers.”

They lay slumped in an exhausted huddle by the wall of the slave shop. It took Rei a moment to realise that they were not alone. Coming out of the shadows were skeletal figures, limping and supporting each other along. They surrounded the four of them, watching impassively. Then one of them knelt, and there was a ripple as the others did the same. The woman who had initially knelt, Rei noticed, was a Shek, like her and Ruka.

For a long time there were no words. They weren’t needed.

 

* * *

 

When Ava awoke the next morning, she was surprised to find herself in a bed. She sat up, wincing at the various aches and pains on her body, and looked around. She was in the upstairs room of the slaver bar. The place had clearly been ransacked, and a barricade of beds had been broken down next to the stairs, but there was no sign of any bodies. Ava craned her neck to see out onto the balcony. If she’d killed Enrick where he stood, he had been moved. It made her feel a little calmer. Maybe she wouldn’t have to think too much about that.

The upstairs room was filled with slaves that had survived the battle. Ava couldn’t help but feel guilt at their bruised and battered forms. Some were lying motionless in beds, covered in bandages. Even the ones who were up and about were grimacing. Ava wondered if she had used them in freeing them, and expecting them to fight for their freedom in their half-starved state.

“Hi,” Ruka said from the next bed over.

Ava turned. Ruka was sitting on the bed facing her, her legs tucked away to the side, her feet bare. Her shackles had been removed. Ava could not remember if she had done it or if someone else had. “You doing OK?”

“Better now that you’re your usual self again.” Ruka’s smile didn’t quite fit the rest of her face. “I thought we were going to lose you.”

“It was my own idiocy.” Ava got to her feet. Her leg stung underneath its bandages, but it supported her without issue. “Forgot the bottle was in my pocket. Still, I guess it stopped it hurting as much as it could have.”

“Are you in pain now?” Ruka said.

“I’ll manage. Can I talk to you outside?”

Ruka looked at her for a moment, scanning her face. Finally she said, “OK.”

They went out onto the balcony, Ava limping and leaning against Ruka for support. Once they were away from the slaves she rested her elbows on the railing, not knowing how to raise the subject. Finally she said, “I wanted to ask you. And it’s OK if you don’t want to talk about it. But… last night with Lord Haga… did he…”

“No. Rei killed him before he could.”

But Ava had heard the tremor in Ruka’s voice.

“Do you want to talk about it?” she said gently.

Ruka buried her face in her hands. “I thought I could handle it. I was always taught not to fear anything, not physical injury, not death, not… But I couldn’t handle it. As I was pinned to that bed I was _scared_.” She let out a dry sob. “And then after that, when I thought I’d lost you…”

“Ruka. Ruka, Ruka.”

Ruka folded against her like a broken chair. Ava held her as she sobbed. It was some time before Ruka’s sobs abated, but she still clung to Ava like a baby gorillo to its mother. “I – I’m sorry. Guess I’m not as tough as I thought.”

“Shit, Ruka. You took a wound that nearly killed you, you were enslaved, to say nothing of what Lord Haga tried to do to you… you know, I’d be kind of concerned if you were completely fine after all that.”

Ruka slowly relaxed her grip on Ava. “Are _you_ OK?”

“Yeah.”

Ruka chuckled. “No you’re not.” She pulled away slightly, wiping her eyes. “Let me guess. You hurt someone, didn’t you?”

“I didn’t just hurt him. I _killed_ him. With the anaesthesia…”

“Hey, that’s not your fault. It was potent stuff. You said so yourself.”

“… and I think I cut down a few people with my katana. But it was dark, and I have no idea who they were, and… and that makes it worse, not even knowing how many lives you’ve taken or even knowing what they looked like.” Ava’s voice wobbled. “And there was something else… but by Okran, it seems stupid in comparison…”

“Oh, yeah?”

“The man I killed. He kissed me, here on the balcony.”

Ruka made a disgusted noise. “Sounds traumatic.”

Ava felt the heat rise to her face. “Um, and this is going to make me sound like an idiot, but that was… kind of the first time I’d been kissed.”

Ruka’s laugh was so sudden Ava took it for a sob at first. “Wait, _what_? Are you _serious_?”

“Yes, of course I’m serious!” Ava wished the bottle of anaesthetic hadn’t smashed, so she could use the last drops of it on herself.

“What, _never_? Not even Hotlongs?”

Ava glared at her. “Mention his name again and I’ll throw you over the railing. And no, not him either.”

“Well, then. Guess you had an interesting day yesterday.”

“Interesting is one word for it. The guy wouldn’t let me go. I didn’t exactly want it to happen.” Ava shuddered. “It’s just funny. I’d grown up thinking it was something almost magical.” She knew she had to sound completely ridiculous to Ruka, who was far more seasoned in such matters than she was, but she couldn’t help herself. “I guess now I know it isn’t.”

“Trust me. It is. You just gotta find the right person.” Ruka turned away, rubbing at the stubs of her horns. “Um, by the way. There’s something I should probably tell you, Ava.”

“If this is about the swamp-house,” Ava said, belatedly remembering what Kat had said, “whatever happened, we’re never going back. It doesn’t matter.”

“No, I mean…”

“Or if you and Rei destroyed something in the storm-house.”

“No, I…”

“Because, seriously, I’m sorry for what I’ve said in the past and none of it is important now and the fact that all of us are still alive is far more…”

“Ava,” Ruka said in exasperation, cutting through her wittering. “The whole time you were asleep, I was trying to muster the courage to tell you this and I am not about to back out now. Can you please stop fretting about Bark for one second and let me finish?”

Ava fell silent.

“ _Right_.” The word was accompanied by a noisy exhale. Ava saw that Ruka’s cheeks had pinkened. “The truth is, Ava, I… uh… I like you more than just as a friend, OK? And… I know you probably don’t feel the same way, and that’s fine, but after last night I knew there was no way I could go without telling you how I felt, and… yeah, believe me, this has been pretty damn difficult for me to just say, so…”

Ava stared at her slack-jawed, struggling to keep up with the flow of words. The meaning of what Ruka was saying was only slowly starting to piece together in her head.

“So yeah. That’s what I wanted to tell you.”

Was she expecting Ava to say something? Ava could only gape; stringing any kind of coherent sentence together was currently beyond her.

“I need a fucking drink,” Ruka muttered after what felt like an eternal silence to them both. She pushed past Ava and went back inside the bar, the sound of her boots gradually dying away as she went downstairs.

Ava stared into emptiness, still in a complete daze. It would be some time before her thoughts began to articulate themselves again, and even then they continued to dance around the secret Ruka had just imparted.

 

* * *

 

“How are you feeling?” Kat asked.

Rei was sitting on a pile of quarried rocks, her still-bloodied fragment axe lying in the dust at her feet. Scrap was running in between the abandoned heaps of stone, occasionally lifting his leg over one of them.

“I thought I’d feel better,” Rei said.

“He’s dead now. That’s got to count for something, right?”

“I don’t know.” Rei scuffed the toe of her boot in the sand. “It’s not like I ever believed that killing him would undo what’s happened, but… I don’t know. Maybe I sort of did.” She glanced back at the noble house. It had been looted of anything and everything of value, and Haga’s severed head had been hung from the door by its hair. It was a grisly trophy, but out in the desert heat, it was looking less and less like a person with every hour that went by. “He’s always going to be there. In my head.”

“I’m sorry.” Kat didn’t know what else to say.

“Don’t be sorry. If you hadn’t dragged me away from this place, I’d still be a slave here.”

Kat perched on the heap of rocks and together they looked out across the camp. The place was littered with bodies, festering in the sun. Kat had already gone out looking for survivors, and had found none bar a frightened elderly woman who had crawled back into her cage in fear of reprisals from the slavers. Those who had been knocked unconscious in the battle had been able to drag themselves to the bar; many more may have survived the initial onslaught, but had later bled out without anyone to come to their aid. Kat had her suspicions that she was not the first to have gone looking for survivors, and that at least some of the slaves had been putting down any former guards who still breathed.

“Memories, right?” Rei said.

“Yeah. I guess so.” A discarded pair of ankle irons lay on the ground beside Kat. She picked them up, feeling how heavy they were, and ran her fingers over the iron that was slightly rusted from years of sweat. “Wonder what we’d have done, if we’d never been captured.”

“Dunno. It’s not as if either of us had much of a purpose, is it?” Rei stopped. “You know, in the six months or so we’ve known each other, I don’t think I ever asked you why you left the swamps in the first place.”

“Just needed the change,” Kat lied.

“Guess you got that.”

“Oh yes.”

A fly buzzed past Kat’s ear, heading for the severed head on the door. “Where do we go from here?” she said.

“Well, we can’t stay here for long,” Rei replied. “I spoke to the former slaves earlier when they were discussing what to do next, and I reckon I could take them west to Bast. I’ve heard the Holy Nation laid waste to it, so we could hole up in there for a bit and then go onwards to World’s End. It’s far from ideal, but if we could get there in one piece then we’d be safe. And then… I guess we’ll take it from there.”

“We’d have to be careful.”

“No. _We’d_ have to be careful.”

“Wait, what? You mean… you’re not letting us come with you?”

“My leg’s healed, but Ava’s hasn’t,” Rei said. “You’ve hurt your knee, and Ruka’s sword arm is going to be fucked for the foreseeable future. Besides, they’re going to be sending people out after us as soon as the United Cities realises what has happened… which could be a few days, could be a week, but they will find out soon enough. Might as well split up, make this more difficult for them.”

As much as Kat hated to admit it, Rei had a point. “But… what if I don’t see you again?”

“Pay a bard to write a song about me. Feel free to embellish bits.”

Kat wiped away a tear she hadn’t realised had formed. “I don’t think your story needs embellishing.”

Rei hopped down off the rockpile. Kat did the same, wincing as she put weight on her leg. “When are you heading out?” she said.

“As soon as we can. This afternoon, probably. We may end up having to make a lot of stops along the way, given the number of injured, but if we can get to Bast in one piece then we should be able to rest up and recover for a bit.”

“Aren’t some of the slaves still unconscious?”

“We’ll just have to carry them. I know it’s far from ideal, but if we stay here even for an extra day, the manhunters will come along, or a patrol, or a supply caravan. We don’t have the luxury of time.”

“You’re mad,” Kat said.

“And what would _you_ do in my position? Abandon them?”

“No! Of course not… I wouldn’t…”

“Kat, look,” Rei said seriously. “You, Ava, Ruka… you’ve all repeatedly put your lives in danger so I could do this. And I know you and I both wanted to help the people who were enslaved alongside us, but Ava and Ruka? They had no reason to help the slaves, help _us_ , uproot their lives, other than the fact that they’re our friends. And… I can’t let them do that for me anymore. They need the best chance to get away, to escape the situation I put them in.” She paused. “If you really want to come with me, Kat, you can. But I can’t in good conscience drag the other two into doing anything else dangerous. And Ruka agrees.”

“ _Ruka_? When did you speak to Ruka?”

“She was in the room when I was talking to the slaves. Ava was asleep and she wouldn’t leave her. I don’t think she wants to put her in any more danger than is necessary… which, you know, is understandable, given that she thought she’d nearly lost her.”

“Yeah.”

“So, you know. I think you should go with them. To be quite honest, they’re your best shot at survival.”

Kat picked at a scraped bit of skin on her knuckle. “I wish there was something I could say that would talk you out of this.”

“Hey, our odds are probably better up  _there_ than in this desert. Anyway, it’s not as far as you’d think. All we’ll need is for our luck to hold out for a few days.”

Even though Rei was still slightly blood-spattered, Kat gave her a hug. “I really hope this isn’t the last time I’m going to see you.”

“Same. You’d better take care. Don’t let the adults do anything stupid.”

Kat chuckled humourlessly into Rei’s shoulder. “If the last six months hasn’t made adults of us, I don’t know what will.”

“You have a point. Bar? I got some escaped slaves to manage… and I need to speak to Ava too, as soon as she’s awake.”

They slowly made their way back towards the bar. Kat’s knee jarred with every step, but she was relieved to find that it did not massively slow her down. Being a slave for so long had had its perks, including giving her a certain mental fortitude and ability to push through pain. Ava, who had always struck Kat as more of a stranger to injury, would probably be significantly more hampered.

Ruka was sitting at a table at the side of the bar, drinking from a bottle of sake that had somehow escaped the previous night’s carnage. Rei went upstairs without seeming to notice her, but Kat hung back. “Should you really be drinking that? We’ll be heading out soon.”

“Probably not,” Ruka admitted. She put the bottle down on the table with a slightly louder thud than was necessary. “Rei told you the plan?”

“Yeah.” Kat sat down opposite her. “I don’t exactly like it, but maybe she has a point.”

“It’s her choice,” Ruka said. “She could always have left the slaves to find their own way. But… I think she’s made the right call. You going with her?”

“No.”

Ruka tilted her head to the side. “No?”

“I’d only slow the group down further.” Another lie.

“But she’s your friend. You know her better than you do me and Ava.” Ruka reached for the bottle then thought better of it and pulled her hand back. “Not that you think you do anymore.”

“Perceptive words from someone who’s drunk… quarter of a bottle of sake.”

“Yeah, take that away from me would you? Anyway, this isn’t a case of me being perceptive. Rei literally told me. So, come on. Today’s been a day for honesty, let’s keep it that way.”

“You saw what she did last night,” Kat said. “I can understand murdering Haga, but the guard?”

“Leaving anyone alive would only have drawn a quicker trail back to us.” But Kat sensed that the cold-blooded kill had left a bad taste in Ruka’s mouth as well. “Look, I’m not here to judge what she did, whether it was honourable or not. And at the end of the day, it’s your call. I understand it’s not an easy one to make.”

“It’s not totally untrue, what I said. I wouldn’t be adding much to Rei’s chances… wait, what did you mean by _Today’s been a day for honesty_?”

“I told Ava.”

“Oh. How did she take it?”

“Hasn’t said anything to me yet. So that might be our friendship down the drain.” Ruka grabbed the bottle off Kat and took another swig. “To be completely selfish? You coming with us will probably make things less awkward.” She passed the bottle back to Kat, who took care this time to put it down by her feet out of Ruka’s reach. “But Kat. Whatever you choose, do it for the right reasons, yeah?”

“I’ll try.”

Kat had still not fully made up her mind a few hours later when Rei was preparing to leave. She hovered awkwardly at the back of the group, watching the slaves as they hefted whatever they had managed to loot over their shoulders. Most of it was food and first aid kits, but Rei had evidently just caught someone trying to smuggle out a few pearl cups in a bag.

“Leave it,” she said firmly. “Money? Yes. Things that are clearly stolen and are of no use to us? They stay behind. This is not about turning a profit.”

“It’s not about profit, it’s a trophy.”

“We don’t have room for trophies either.”

The woman reluctantly dropped the cups in the dust. Looking around at the group of slaves, Kat could only hope that they would make it through the desert and Bast in one piece. Of the slaves, eleven were in reasonable shape to walk; four Shek, two Hivers and five Greenlander humans. One of the Shek was carrying an unconscious Scorchlander, whilst one of the humans was giving a piggyback to the elderly woman Kat had found in the cage. Unsurprisingly, there were no Skeletons among their number. Manhunters tended to lack the technical know-how to repair them, meaning they rarely even made it to the slave camps alive.

 “Hi, Kat,” Rei said as she noticed her. “Or should I say goodbye?”

“I think it’ll be goodbye. For now.”

Rei stepped away from the huddled group of slaves and went over to where Kat was standing. “You guys heading off too?”

Kat looked back. Ava had acquired a staff in addition to her katana and was using it as a crutch. Ruka was a sizeable distance away, trying not to act as if she’d drunk more sake than was sensible. Both were wearing their backpacks. “I think so.”

“Where are you going?”

“Back to the Hub,” Kat said. “We’ll try and shortcut through the Holy Nation. Still risky, but…”

“It’s probably your best option, to be honest.” Rei glanced back at the slaves. “Don’t think I could get away with waltzing in there as a Shek leading what’s pretty obviously a bunch of escaped slaves. But if you can avoid Holy Nation patrols, you’re going to be a lot safer than you’d be out in the desert.”

“Definitely.”

“And when you get to the Hub, lie low, all right? Try not to do anything too stupid.”

“Given that we’ve got the world’s two most powerful factions on our backs,” Kat said wryly, “it seems like pretty solid advice.”

“Yeah, well. Anyone can give advice.” Rei nodded at Kat, then turned to head back to her group. “Good luck, Kat.”

“You too, Rei.”

The motley band dispersed towards the gates. Kat followed them out of the slave camp, then stood and watched as the skinny, half-starved party disappeared into the blurry heatwave.

“Ready to go?” Ava said.

“Yeah.” Kat smiled sadly at the eleven pairs of footprints – and one set of pawprints – that had been left in the dust. As she watched, a gust of wind blew fresh sand over the tracks, hiding them forever from prying eyes.

The three of them set off, leaving behind a silent camp that had once rung out with the shouts of slavers and the chipping away of pickaxes on stone. Things would never be the same, not for them and not for the United Cities either.

And so it ended, Kat reflected, as thirteen wanderers’ lives had started.

With broken chains.


End file.
